Philip Cardew

A Cardew voltmeter, patented by Philip Cardew in 1883, made by Paterson & Cooper between 1883 and 1899. In the Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci, Milan. Major Philip Cardew (24 September 1851 – 17 May 1910), was an English army officer in the Royal Engineers. Engaged in the application of electricity to military purposes, he designed innovations in electrical engineering.

Early life and career Cardew was born at Oakshade, near Leatherhead, Surrey, on 24 September 1851, eldest son in a family of four sons and four daughters of Captain Christopher Baldock Cardew, 74th Highlanders, of East Hill, Liss, and his wife Eliza Jane, second daughter of Sir Richard Bethell, 1st Baron Westbury. Educated at Guildford Grammar School, he passed first into the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, in 1868, and left it at the head of his batch. He was awarded the Pollock Medal and the Sword of Honour, and received a commission as lieutenant in the Royal Engineers on 4 January 1871.

Scientific papers In 1881 Cardew wrote a paper on "The application of dynamo electric machines to railway rolling stock"; in 1894 he contributed a paper to the Royal Society on "Uni-directional currents to earth from alternate current systems"; and in 1901 he delivered the Cantor lecture before the Society of Arts on "Electric railways". He contributed several papers to the Institution of Electrical Engineers, on whose council he served for many years, and was vice-president in 1901–2.

Family Cardew married in London, on 19 June 1879, his first cousin, Mary Annunziata, daughter of Mansfield Parkyns. She survived him with three sons and two daughters.