William Harrod

William, the second child of Jeremiah and Elizabeth, was born on the 1st May 1875 at Port Chalmers in N.Z. The family moved to Sydney in 1884, when he was nine years old, and he left school at 14 to become an apprentice fitter and turner at Clyde Engineering Works. He visited N.Z. several times while working as an engineer on Union Steamship Company’s ships plying between Sydney and N.Z, he was a poor sailor but loved the sea. From 1893-96 he went to Granville Technical College and passed courses in Applied Mechanics and Mechanical Drawing 1st class, while working for Henry Vale and Sons of Auburn as a fitter and turner. He then worked with a ship-building company, Morgan Cable and Co at Port Chalmers from 1896-1899. He returned to Sydney to work for Mainwaring Bros in 1900. On 23rd September 1901 William joined the N.S.W. Railways and was sent to Junee.

It was in Junee that he met Grace Meldrum, she was the organist of the Presbyterian Church and he was in the choir. After a good deal of opposition from her parents they married on 18th May 1904. William left the railways at this time and they left Junee soon after for N.Z. and Port Chalmers, where he worked for the Otago Dock Trust Freezing Works for one year and then Stephenson and Cook Ironworks for three years. Their first child, James was born here in 1905, Jeremiah sent a cable telling them to give him a name he wouldn’t be ashamed of. They returned to Sydney in 1907 and lived in Elliot St, Balmain, where Doreen was born in 1908. William was then working for the Woolwich Engineering Co. Ltd. (Morts Dock) where he stayed until 1909, and was then employed in the workshops of the P.N.Russell School of Engineering at the University of Sydney. From 1910-13 they lived at Palmer St, Balmain, where Ross was born in 1911. A reference from this time;

The University of Sydney

P.N.Russell School of Engineering

2nd September, 1913

Your letter of the 1st inst. to hand, and I regret to note that your plans compel you to sever your connection with the Engineering School from the end of the present month.

It gives me great pleasure to state that your work has been uniformly good and that your connection with the Workshop and the Mechanical Engineering Laboratory for the past five years has been a source of great satisfaction to the teaching staff.

I wish you every success in your new enterprise.

Very faithfully yours,

Sir Henry Barraclough.

In 1912 they moved to 25 Belmore St, Rozelle. William left the University in 1913, when he and his brother-in-law, John (Jock) Weir formed the engineering firm of Weir and Harrod in Cary St, Drummoyne. John Weir left the partnership the following year, and returned to take control of the family property, after the death of his brother. William was joined by a new partner, Stan Perry, and this partnership lasted for 22 years. Stan was in the army during the First World War and was at Gallipoli and later in France, with the 13th Battalion, 4th Division. He left Australia as a Lieutenant and returned as a Lieutenant-Colonel with D.S.O. and M.C. Stan was wounded at Lone Pine and again at Pozieres. During the war William was kept busy with the business, helped at times by his father, Jeremiah, brother-in-law Joe Pearson, and nephew Victor Pearson, who was an apprentice. In October 1918, Charlie Winshuttle started as an apprentice at 10/- per week, and he stayed there for many years.

While they were living at Rozelle, Ross was badly burned by boiling tripe and Grace’s engagement ring was stolen through a front window and returned about twelve months later. In 1919 they moved to Latona Cary St, Drummoyne, near the workshop. In 1920 a new brick building was built near the road and the original building on the waterfront was used for storage. Bill Leng started as an apprentice that year also, and stayed until 1979. At this time they specialised in machinery for the soapmaking industry and clients included, Parke Davis, Sheldon Drug Co, Upton & Co, Perdriau Rubber Co, Palmolive, and Alston Soap Co.

In the early days Grace looked after the books and accounts at home and then daughter, Doreen worked in the office during 1927, and then from June 1928 to May 1935, when Joan Wilmot took over. In 1924 they moved to 50 Prince Edward St, Gladesville, after Grace was left a small legacy from her Aunt Bella Andrews. The two boys both went to Sydney University from here and Jim got his B.Sc. and M.E. and Ross his B.Sc. In 1936 Stan Perry retired and left the partnership of Weir & Harrod.

Ross joined the business in 1947 after the war and gradually took over the running of it from his father. Weir and Harrod became a Limited Company in 1951, with James Harrod and Harry Skinner each buying 2001 shares at £1 each. Ross was made managing director .

William continued working in the factory, making all the wooden casting patterns and repairing the workshop machinery, making new parts for lathes, etc, as parts could not be bought after the war. He also made a rotary clothes line before “Hills” invented theirs and made hedge clippers before anyone else, a very clever man. He made a weaving loom for Doreen, from a picture in a book, when she was studying Interior Decoration at East Sydney Tech. He died in 1958 at the age of 83.