William Henry Warren (2 February 1852 – 9 January 1926) was an Australian engineer and twice president of the Royal Society of New South Wales.[1]
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Warren was born in Bristol, Somerset, England, son of William Henry Warren, railway guard, and his wife Catherine Ann, née Abrahams[1]. Warren was educated at the Royal College of Science, Dublin, and Queen's College, Manchester. Warren won the Whitworth scholarship and the Society of Arts technological scholarship. Warren entered the service of the London and North-Western Railway Company in 1872 and spent five years at its workshops at Wolverton. On 27 July 1875 at St Pancras, London, Warren married Albertine King with Church of England rites.[1]
Warren migrated to Australia in 1881 and entered the public works department at Sydney on 9 May 1881[1] and was in charge of the supervision of roads, bridges and sewerage. In 1883 he was appointed lecturer in engineering at the University of Sydney, and a year later was made professor of the new department. In 1890 he was made John Henry Challis professor with salary of £900[1]. Warren was a professor for 42 years and built up a great engineering school. Warren was not, however, content merely to look after his own department. Warren published Australian Timbers (1892), a comparatively short treatise, but illustrated with many maps and diagrams, and in 1894 he brought out his most important work, Engineering Construction in Iron, Steel and Timber, of which the third edition in two volumes was published in 1921: vol. I entitled Engineering Construction in Steel and Timber, vol. II, Engineering Construction in Masonry and Concrete.
Warren was also doing a lot of work for the government; in 1885 he sat on the royal commission on railway bridges, and in 1892 was a member of the committee of inquiry on Baldwin locomotives. Warren was also later chairman of the electric tramways board and was on the automatic brakes board. For many years he was consulting engineer to the government of New South Wales. Warren was a member of the council of the Royal Society of New South Wales for many years (president in 1892 and 1902), was inaugural president of the Institute of Engineers of Australia, Australian representative of the Institute of Engineering in Great Britain, and a council member of the International Society for the Testing of Materials. During World War I, Warren conducted over 10,000 tests of munition steel.
Warren resigned his professorship at the end of 1925 and was made emeritus professor. Just over a week later he died suddenly at Sydney on 9 January 1926 and was buried in the Anglican section of Waverley Cemetery. Warren was survived by two sons.[1]