| Authorised form of name | Gowland; William (1842 - 1922); metallurgist and archaeologist |
| Dates | 1842 - 1922 |
| Nationality | British |
| Place of birth | South Durham Street, Sunderland, co. Durham, England |
| Date of birth | 16 December 1842 |
| Place of death | 13 Russell Road, Kensington, London, England |
| Date of death | 10/06/1922 |
| Dates and places | Brial place: St Marylebone cemetery, East Finchley,London, England |
| Occupation | Metallurgist; Archaeologist |
| Research field | Metallurgy |
| Chemistry |
| Activity | Education: Royal College of Chemistry (1868)
Career: Employed at the Broughton Copper Co., Salford, Lancashire (1870-1872); went to Japan as a foreigner employed by the Meiji government to assist in its modernisation programme (1872); retrained as a technical adviser (1875); chief metallurgist at the mint (1878); assayer to the imperial war department of the Japanese government (1888); awarded the fourth class of the order of the Rising Sun and promoted to the third class at the end of his employment; undertook comprehensive and pioneering archaeological investigations in Japan; resumed employment at Broughton Copper Co on his return; succeeded Sir William Roberts-Austen as professor of metallurgy in the Royal School of Mines (1902).
Memberships:
FCS; FIC; SA; Japan Society; The Anthropological Institute; Institution of Mining and Engineering (President 1907). |
| Membership category | Fellow |
| Date of election | 07/05/1908 |
| Age at election | 66 |
| Proposer | Arthur William Rucker; John Wesley Judd; Henry Clifton Sorby; Avebury [John Lubbock]; John Milne; William Matthew Flinders Petrie; Henry Selby Hele-Shaw; Harry Govier Seeley; John Perry; Horace Tabberer Brown |
| Archibald Liversidge; William Crookes; Raphael Meldola; Herbert McLeod; William Ramsay; Arthur Herbert Church; James Dewar; Thomas Edward Thorpe; Edward Divers; John Edward Stead |
| Relationships | Parents: George Thompson Gowland (1800/01–1847), shipowner and innkeeper, and Catherine, formerly Ovington, née Kelly (1805–1891).
Spouse: 1) Joanna (1859/60–1909), youngest daughter of Murdoch Macaulay, of Linshador, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis (2 September 1890); 2) Maude Margaret (1868–1949), a schoolteacher, daughter of Duncan James Connacher, dentist (31 March 1910). |
| Published works | RCN 41422 |
| General context | Remembered for his excavations in Japan and at Stonehenge. |
| Sources | Sources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB
Obituaries:
Proc Roy Soc Series A 1922-1923 vol 102 pp xvi-xix, plate, signed by W A T
Proc Roy Soc Series B 1922-1923 vol 94 pp xl-xliii, plate, signed by W A T |
| Royal Society code | NA8177 |
| Reference number | Title | Date |
| EC/1908/07 | Gowland, William: certificate of election to the Royal Society | |
| NLB/32/591 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor William Gowland | 10 April 1906 |
| NLB/37/589 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor W [William] Gowland | 10 April 1908 |
| NLB/37/871 | Copy Letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to W [William] Barlow, Fellow of the Royal Society | 26 May 1908 |
| IM/001728 | Gowland, William | 1922 |
| NLB/63/18 | Copy letter from Sir Charles Scott Sherrington, President of the Royal Society; to Miss Catherine Gowland | 15 June 1922 |
| RR/20/152 | Referee's report by William Gowland, on a paper 'A method of avoiding inaccuracy due to weight errors in fixing a gold coinage standard trial plate' by O Watkins | February 1914 |
| NLB/63/34 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir William [Augustus] Tilden, FRS | 16 June 1922 |
| NLB/63/444 | Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir William Tilden, FRS, The Oaks, Northwood, Middlesex | 14 October 1922 |
| MC/23/191 | Letter from [William] Gowland, Glenthorne, Westgate on Sea, to Mr [Robert] Harrison | 9 May 1908 |
| NLB/37/768 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor W [William] Gowland, Fellow of the Royal Society | 11 May 1908 |
| MC/26/98 | Letter from 13 [William] Gowland, Russell Road, Kensington, W, to Mr [Robert] Harrison, [Royal Society] | 26 January 1911 |
| NLB/43/491 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor William Gowland, Fellow of the Royal Society | 27 January 1911 |
| MC/27/138 | Letter from [William] Gowland, 13 Russell Road, Kensington, W, to Mr [Robert] Harrison, [Royal Society] | 2 May 1912 |
| NLB/45/729 | Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor W [William] Gowland FRS | 30 April 1912 |