Reginald "Rex" Wailes OBE, FSA, F I Mech E (6 March 1901 – 7 January 1986) was an English engineer and historian who published widely on aspects of engineering history and industrial archaeology, particularly on windmills and watermills.
Wailes was born at Hadley Wood on 6 March 1901, the son of Reginald and Florence Wailes; his father was a mechanical engineer. He was educated at Oundle School before becoming an engineering apprentice at Robey's of Lincoln.[1] In 1924 following his apprenticeship he joined the family firm of George Wailes & Company.[1]
In 1923, while serving his apprenticeship with Robey, an engineering firm in Lincoln, he was asked by the then president of the Newcomen Society to record windmills in Lincolnshire. At the time English windmills were rapidly falling into disuse and being demolished, and it was felt that some attempt should be made to record this vanishing aspect of the English countryside. In 1929 he was appointed technical adviser to the newly formed Windmill Section (now the Mills Section) of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings. In this post he visited numerous mills in England and developed a reputation as the leading British authority on them, presenting more than thirty papers to the Newcomen Society on mill-related subjects. He was also invited to report on mills overseas, notably in the United States, presenting a paper on the windmills of Long Island for the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities in 1935. He was also the consultant for the construction of Robertson's post mill at Colonial Williamsburg in the 1950s.
Books followed, the most notable of which were Windmills in England (1948) and The English Windmill (1954), the latter in particular being considered the classic work on the subject.
From 1963 to 1971 he was the lead consultant to the Industrial Monuments Survey then being undertaken by the Ministry of Works in an effort to identify historic industrial sites which were worthy of preservation under the Town and Country Planning Acts. In 1965 he represented United Kingdom at the first International Symposium of Molinology in Portugal.[1] In 1971 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for his work.[1]
He served as president of the Newcomen Society, 1953 to 1955, and was elected as an honorary member in 1977.
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particularly on windmills and watermills. Wailes was born at Hadley Wood on 6 March 1901, the son of Reginald and Florence Wailes; his father was a mechanical engineer...
Australian conductor Edward T. Wailes (1903–1969), American diplomat Kyle Wailes (born 1983), Canadian lacrosse player RexWailes (1901–1986), English engineer...
Dyeing with Woad, History and facts about woad The Former Woad Industry RexWailes in Transactions of the Newcomen Society, 1935-36 Vol 16. USDA information...
Osprey Publishing. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-7478-0653-0.[permanent dead link] RexWailes, Fred Landis, Windmills at the Encyclopædia Britannica "History Of Windmills:...
2013), American computer programmer and Internet hactivist. January 7 – RexWailes (b. 1901), English engineer and historian of technology. January 28 Crew...
Mills Archive. Retrieved 4 August 2022. Jones, Lavender M. "Tales from RexWailes". Mills Archive. Archived from the original on 12 July 2022. Retrieved...
the Ministry of Public Building and Works (Great Britain) commenced by RexWailes. Kenneth Hudson's Industrial Archaeology: an introduction published in...
of water mills had declined dramatically. In 1938, an investigation by RexWailes discovered that of the 23 extant tidal mills in England, only 10 were...
Sites of Wallonia Mill conversion Quarry Bank Mill Railway archaeology RexWailes Industrial Archaeology: Principles and Practice, Peter Neaverson and Marilyn...
Grete Hermann (died 1984), German mathematician and philosopher March 6 – RexWailes (died 1986), English engineer and historian of technology. April 13 –...
Berkshire and a 13th-century cottage at Mowsley, Leicestershire. In 1963, RexWailes invited Major to assist him in carrying out a survey of mills in Berkshire...
public". BBC News Online. 19 April 2023. Retrieved 24 April 2023. Wailes 1954, p. 24. Wailes 1954, p. 32. Brown, R. J. (1976). Windmills in England. London:...
editor of Transactions) L. T. C. Rolt Alec Skempton Hugh Pembroke Vowles RexWailes Paul Wilson, Baron Wilson of High Wray (president, 1973–1975) The Newcomen...
had been trimmed and made use of as it stood." The myth is refuted by RexWailes in his article "Some Windmill Fallacies", published in the 1961 volume...
him into retirement. Ashley became interested in mills after meeting RexWailes in 1926, the pioneer of the UK's windmill repair movement, and took photographs...
Vanishing Cambridgeshire (Breedon Books; 2006) ISBN 9781859835326 (copy) RexWailes (1949). The Windmills of Cambridgeshire. Including those of the Isle of...
the Ministry of Public Building and Works (Great Britain) commenced by RexWailes. Lascaux caves closed to the public. (Painted c.15000–13000 BC; discovered...
Library "Shelter Island Windmill," Long Island Forum, December, 1957 P.236 RexWailes, "Windmills of Eastern Long Island," Newcomen Society Transactions, 1934-1935...
the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), and after RexWailes made a report on the mill, two sails from the Black Mill, Forncett End...
1953, and they appeared in multiple genre charts. Four versions (Glenn, Rex Allen, the Orioles and June Valli) reached Billboard's best-selling popular...
the Franks" (Latin: Rex Francorum) until the late twelfth century; the first to adopt the title of "King of France" (Latin: Rex Franciae; French: roi...
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