William Seymour Pearless died in Shamva Hospital, Rhodesia, on March 1st, 1934, at the age of 71.
He entered the Royal School of Mines in 1880, and on completion of his course went to South America where for six months he was engaged on gold mines in Venezuela. He then obtained the position of assayer, sampler and chemist to the Quebrada Railway, Land & Copper Co., Ltd., Venezuela, and worked for that company for nearly ten years.
In 1896 he went to Western Australia to manage gold mines at Coolgardie, and in 1900 was employed as mining engineer to an expedition sent to the Sudan by Sir Ernest Cassel to report on the prospects of that country. A year later he was engaged on behalf of the Wassau and Ashanti Syndicate in examining and reporting on gold mines in West Africa, and on the conclusion of that work he went to Mexico to take up the management of gold and silver mines. Subsequently, he managed copper mines in Ireland.
The last twenty-two years of his career were spent almost wholly in Rhodesia, at the Antelope, Ilix and Shamva mines.
Mr. Pearless was elected an Associate of the Institution in 1896 and was transferred to Membership in 1901.
Vol. 44, Trans I.M.M., 1934-35, pp.568-9
