The IET Archives recently received a donation from the family of W S Thomson, of a small number of his papers.

W S Thomson, BEng, CEng, MIEE, became a Student member of the IEE in 1929 and a Graduate member in 1934, when he worked as a Research Assistant at GEC Witton, Birmingham. In 1938 he became a Member of the IEE and at the same time became an Applications Engineer for Alkaline Batteries Ltd of Redditch - he held this position and stayed as a Member of the IEE until 1972.

This brief biography helps to put the donation into context. Amongst the papers is W S Thomson's original typescript paper titled 'insulator testing and maintenance on live high tension lines' which he read before the South Midland Student Section of the Institution of Electrical Engineers at Birmingham, April 21 1936. This paper was awarded a Students Premium by the Council of the IEE but a copy was not held by either the IET Library or the IET Archives. The paper came with the original photographs and diagrams used in that paper, several of which relate to high tension lines in New Zealand from the early 1930's.

Another part of the donation was Thomson's unpublished typescript volume from 1977 titled, 'nickel-cadmium vented pocket-plate storage batteries'. The IET Archives holds a number of unpublished manuscripts from former members, which for one reason or another do not manage to reach the publication stage, but can be a valuable source of information for researchers.

If nickel-cadmium batteries hold a particular interest then the W S Thomson collection is now catalogued and can be found by searching the archives with the reference SC MSS 247.

Written by Jon Cable.

Edited: 18 October 2013 at 09:47 AM by Mike Dunne