South Yorkshire Times January 20, 1951
An Expert on Timber
Conisbrough Man inherits Family Interest
News of a Conisbrough man who has made a name for himself in forestry and timber research, reaches us this week from his former headmaster, Mr. W. Smith. Mr. Smith, headmaster of Morley Place School, Conisbrough, until his retirement, tells us of a recent meeting with a former pupil, Dr. S. E Wilson, who has devoted all his career to work in connection with forestry.
A Useful Book
Stating that Dr. Wilson was the son of Mr. William Wilson, who years ago converted a foundry near the Station Hotel, Conisbrough, into a sawmill, and grandson of Mr. Robert Wilson, who once had a sawmill and factory on Low Road, Conisbrough, Mr. Smith said it would seem that Dr. Wilson’s interest in forestry was inherited. He had devoted his life’s activities to this branch of industry, and his literary contributions on the subject were far from negligible.
His latest book—published in 1949 and entitled ” Decimal Cube Calculator and Ready Reckoner “—was intended to help timber merchants and others engaged in the industry to compute the contents of sawn timber in cubic feet, and to ascertain the value to the nearest penny of any quantity at any price per cubic foot. The book contained 158 pages of figures.
Dr. Wilson went from Morley Place School to become one of the original pupils at Mexborough Grammar School. He then obtained the degree of M.Sc. at Sheffield University and had since gained hi Ph.D.
Dr. Wilson was now a consultant in all matters connected with timber, and was frequently called upon to give evidence at inquiries, held under the Town and Country Planning Act.
Experiment In Sussex
Another aspect of his activities, Mr. Smith said, was still in the experimental stage; when land was planted with young trees, drastic thinning had to be carried out in a few years’ time.
Dr. Wilson was experimenting on an area of land in the Sussex Weald to see whether the thinnings might be made use of to provide marketable timber for such small articles as boxes or drawers.
Last year, Dr. Wilson spent five months in the United States and gave lectures at Yale and Harvard Universities. Asked if the British were as efficient as the Americans in methods of dealing with lumber, Dr• Wilson said that each country had much to learn from the other.