Robert Wynne-Edwards

Robert Wynne-Edwards

Sir Robert Meredydd Wynne-Edwards CBE, DSO, MC and bar (1 May 1897 – 22 June 1974) was a British civil engineer and army officer. Wynne-Edwards was born in Cheltenham and educated at Giggleswick School and Leeds Grammar School before being commissioned into the Royal Welch Fusiliers at the outbreak of the First World War. He served on the Western Front in France where he received a Mention in Despatches, Distinguished Service Order and a Military Cross and bar for his gallantry and leadership. Following the war he studied engineering at Christ Church, Oxford from which he graduated with second class honours in 1921.

Wynne-Edwards emigrated to Canada working on several contracts in Vancouver including the Detroit–Windsor Tunnel. He returned to Britain in 1935 following a slump in the Canadian building industry and joined John Mowlem & Co. where he was given the task of constructing the William Girling Reservoir. The newly constructed dam later collapsed and Wynne-Edwards enlisted the expertise of the Building Research Station and Karl von Terzaghi to prove that he was not at fault. During the Second World War Wynne-Edwards was seconded to the Ministry of Works where he became their director of plant.

After the war Wynne-Edwards was managing director of Richard Costain Ltd, specialising in pipelaying and also served on several boards and committees for the British Government. For this latter role he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Wynne-Edwards was also involved with the Institution of Civil Engineers serving on many committees and being elected their one hundredth president in 1964. He was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours of 1965.