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William Edwin Irish - Scientist, Inventor, and Writer
414 Bratenahl Road
William Edwin Irish was a scientist, inventor, and writer. He was born in England on May 4, 1845, and came to Glenville in 1886 at 41 years old.
Although educated as an electrical engineer, but inventing was his hobby. As early as 1902, when automobiles were marvels of science, he built airplanes of bicycle tubing and turkey feathers. They were too heavy for the engines of those days. There was no cockpit for a pilot to sit. By a rocket arrangement, he would shoot them out over Lake Erie and fly out of sight to their doom
William edited and distributed The Aeronautical World, a magazine where he promoted the cause of heavier-than-air machines. He repeatedly asserted that dirigibles were impactable. He was much interested in Cleveland Airport and was a guest at its opening in 1925.
While associated with Lord Kitchener in the British Army, Mr. Irish invented a smokeless powder, a method of wireless telegraphy, and an arc light.
After giving up aviation as a hobby, he devoted himself to a revision of the English alphabet. He published a book entitled The Key to the Universe.
William married Alice Weeden while still in England. Alice was born on January 31, 1905, in Middlesex, England. They had six children: Alice (Denius), Marmaduke John, Ernest Percy, Charles Frederick, Edwin, and Gertrude (Williams).
Alice came to Glenville shortly after her marriage. She was one of the areas first women real estate operators, having developed many properties in Glenville. She was also active in the American Legion Auxiliary and was a gold star mother. American Gold Star Mothers, Inc. is a nonprofit organization of American mothers who lost sons or daughters in service of the United States Armed Forces. It was initially formed in 1928 for mothers of those lost in World War I. Her son, Ernest, died in World War I.
William died on April 24, 1933, and Alice died just eight months later on December 23, 1933. Both are buried in Lake View Cemetery.