William Alexander MacLeod died on May 7th, 1946, at Harrow-on-the-Hill, Middlesex, at the age of 71.
He was born in New Zealand, and studied at the University of Otago, obtaining the B.A. and B.Sc. degrees and the Associateship in both mining and metallurgy of the Otago School of Mines it 1897. In the following two years he gained general experience in coal and metal mining, milling and cyaniding, and for eighteen months of that time held the position of assistant director of the Thames School of Mines in New Zealand, where he was in charge of the ore-testing plant.
From 1899 to 1901 he was in charge of the provisional mining course at Hobart University, Tasmania, and then became director of Charters Towers School of Mines, North Queensland, for three years. He left the School in 1903 to become mine manager of Brilliant Extended Gold Mining Co., Ltd., and a year later was made general manager. In 1912 Mr. MacLeod was engaged by Messrs. Bewick, Moreing & Co. for work in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia, and in 1917 he came to the head office of the company in London, where he worked until his death.
Mr. MacLeod wrote a number of articles for the Australian technical press, and contributed two papers to the Transactions of the Institution — ‘The surface condenser in mining power plant’ (vol. 19, 1919-20) and ‘The internal combustion engine: some modern types and their application to mining ’ (vol. 36, 1926-7).
He was elected a Member of the Institution in 1909.
Vol. 56, Trans IMM 1946-7, p.620
