John William Willans

Willans was born in 1844 in Hunslet, near Leeds to Benjamin and Ann Willans.[1] He trained as a locomotive fitter and engineer with the Leeds company of Kitson.[2]

Around 1865, Willans moved to Middlesbrough to join the engineering firm of Cochrane, Grove, & Company. He later moved to Hopkins, Gilkes, & Company. [2] In 1872, he received a patent iron ore smelting, along with Stanhope Baynes Smith.[3]

He then moved to Manchester where he set up as a general engineer and contractor.[2]

In April 1871, in Birmingham he married Constance Amelia Smith the daughter of Stanhope Baynes Smith.[4] In 1879, he re-married to Mary Louisa Nicholson.[5]

Willans specialized in electrical engineering, especially for railways.[6] He was the primary contractor for the construction of the Liverpool Overhead Railway, and made a handsome profit from his work.[7] He was later appointed that railway's Chief Engineer.[8]

Willans supplied ironwork for the City and Southwark Subway in the late 1880s.[7] He was the primary contractor for the Great Northern and City Railway from Finsbury Park to Moorgate.[7] He received a patent for an electric motor used for that line.[2]

He was also a Director of the Guiseley, Yeadon & Rawdon Railway.[9]

In 1894, Willans purchased Dolforgan Hall from the executors of James Walton. He moved there with his wife Mary Louisa and son John Bancroft Willans. He was appointed as a Justice of the Peace for Montgomeryshire.[5] He was selected to stand as the Liberal candidate for the Montgomery Boroughs constituency in the 1895 election, but died before the vote.[6]

Willans died on 7 March 1895, in London, after a bout of influenza.[10] His wife inherited Dolforgan Hall, and his son lived there until his death in 1957.