Person

Carus-Wilson, Charles A. (Charles Ashley), 1860-1942

1860-1942

British electrical engineer Charles Carus-Wilson, was educated at Cambridge University’s Pembroke College and the Royal Engineering College. After receiving his Master’s degree, he was sent to Bucharest to install electrical lighting in the palace of the king of Romania. On his return to England in 1887, he was appointed to the staff at Cooper’s Hill College where he worked until 1890 when he received a post as professor of electrical engineering at McGill University in Montreal. In 1892 he married author Mary Louisa Georgina Petrie, one of the first women to graduate from London’s University College. In 1898 they returned to England where Carus-Wilson began a practice of consulting engineering in Westminster and lectured frequently at University College. He also presented papers before the Royal Society, the Royal Society of Arts and the Physical Society. His book, “Electrodynamics: the direct current motor” went through many editions. His youngest daughter, Eleanora Mary (1897-1977), born in Canada, became a professor at the London School of Economics, specializing in English commerce during the Middle Ages.