Denison, William E.. , 1843-1916

Sir William T. Denison, brother of John Evelyn Denison, Viscount Ossington, was educated at Eton College, and by a private tutor, the Rev. C. Drury. He entered the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, in 1819. An engineer, he worked for the Ordnance Survey in the early 1820s, before being commissioned as a Lieutenant in 1826. He was involved in the construction of the Rideau Canal in Canada between 1827 and 1831. He returned to England in 1831, and in 1837 took charge of the works at Woolwich dockyard. He was knighted in 1846 and in the same year was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen's Land [Tasmania], then a penal colony. In 1854 he was promoted to Governor of New South Wales, Australia, where he consolidated the colonial system of public works and education. He became Governor of Madras, India, in 1861. He retired in 1866 and returned to England.

From the guide to the Papers of Sir William T. Denison (1804-1871), Colonial Governor in Australia and India, and his family, 1819-1915, (GB159 The University of Nottingham)