Marine Architect W. E. Redway M.I.N.A.

Mr. W. E. Redway, member of the Institute of Naval Architects of England, is one of the best known marine constructors on the great lakes and is about the only member of the Institute of Naval Architecture in Canada, which means a good deal, for unless a man is inordinately clever he is not permitted to attain membership in that organization. Mr. Redway was born in South Devon, England, his father being a shipbuilder at Exmouth and Dartmouth, so that he was literally born into the business and grew in it.

Having received a thorough education, Mr. Redway served a long apprenticeship and passed through every department of the noted Chatham dockyard, besides being on the northeast coast of England and on the Clyde. His last position in Britain was as General Manager of the Castle Steel and Iron Works of Milford Haven. Thus he became thoroughly acquainted with everything in the construction of vessels sailing in deep water and was made a member of the Institute of Naval Architects in 1884. In 1886 Mr. Redway brought his family to Canada and settled in Toronto.

Not much time was lost before Mr. Redway became fully employed in his line of business. Besides being connected with several big engineering schemes in Toronto, he has, up to June 1897, planned and constructed eleven steam vessels. These were the Imperial, the Mayflower, the Primrose, the Garden City, the Mascotte, the Mistassini, the Medora and others. He also framed the Gooderham yachts Cleopatra and Oriole. Hearing of some of his good work, the managers of the Union shipyards at Buffalo sent for Mr. Redway, and he was there second in charge of the building of the steamer Ramapo, being occupied for six months of the year of 1895 at that work. Among his other achievements in later years he has contributed a number of valuable and cleverly written articles to marine publications notably The Marine Record of Cleveland, Ohio.

Mr. Redway has found an able seconder of his efforts in his wife, for Mrs. Redway has ever taken a lively interest in his undertakings. Her maiden name was Miss Ellen Rose Hodge, and on her mother's side she is connected with the aristocratic and wealthy Wheaton family of Silverton, in England. Mr. and Mrs. Redway were married 28 years ago, in 1868. Five children have blessed their union, the youngest of whom is eighteen years of age. There are four sons and one daughter. Three of the sons - Horace,Sydney and Edwin - are with the Polson Shipbuilding Company, of which Mr. Redway is construction director. Edwin is a draughtsman, Sydney an accountant, and Horace a foreman shipbuilder. The other son Edgar, is in the wholesale grocery trade.

Mr. Redway's active life near the water has had a beneficial effect on his constitution, for he is yet as strong as most men who are twenty years younger. His faculties are as acute as ever they were and likely so to remain for many years. Mr. Redway is the architect under whose supervision the famous Knapp Marine Roller was constructed at the Polson shipyard.

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