The Early Years

William Ernest Burnand was born in 1875, the son of John William and Emma. John William was the son of a ‘little mester’ who in the 1860s was a silver chaser employing two men and a boy. John William married Emma Horrocks in Salford in 1868 and a year later their first child Laurence was born but died a few months later. He was followed by Adeline who died when a few months old and Edith who died when she was 13 years old. William Ernest came next in 1875 followed by Helena two years later. John William and Emma’s youngest child, Charles, was born in 1883 and died early the following year. As Emma reported in 1911 when she was a widow living in some comfort at Ormskirk, of her six children, only two had reached maturity.
The family moved frequently in their first years from Broomhall to Heeley to West Street. By 1891, their circumstances had improved so that they were able to live in the newly developing suburb of Nether Edge, away from the smoke and noise of the town  John William was sufficiently prosperous to have retired by 1891 and enjoyed the decade in some comfort, moving from a terraced house in Stead Road to a semi-detached house on the corner of Oakdale Road. He died in 1899, leaving and estate of £3600.
By now, William Ernest was an electrical engineer. His siter Helena had married and so in 1901 we find him and his mother at 124 Oakbrook Road, a terraced house opposite Bingham Park. A year later he married Lucy Longden at Ranmoor Church. Emma decided to leave Sheffield, moving to Ormskirk and so in 1911 the house on Oakbrook Road was home to William Ernest (who described his occupation as Electrical Engineer Manufacturing Motors And Transformers), Lucy and their children Gladys (born 1905) and John William (born 1910) along with a general servant called Norah.

Branching Out

William Ernest had set up a company in 1897 to make electrical equipment and carry out repairs. Three years later he applied for a patent for a new design of electric brush holder which indicates that the company was making electric motors. In 1904 the Independent reported on the opening of the Neepsend power station, telling its readers that the station had a ‘local transformer station’ to supply electricity to the station itself that used transformers ‘of the Burnard type.’
The company was at the Sheffield Electrical Exhibition held in 1906 and the Telegraph was there to review the displays:

At the stand of Messrs. W. E Burnand and Co., of London Road, Sheffield, may be seen the transformers used by the Corporation, of which Mr. Burnand is the patentee, and also several types of alternating current motor. One of the latter is geared direct to a double-headed lathe for heavy boring work. The great compactness of the machine is noticeable. There is no overhead belting, the motor is concealed under the machine and plenty of head room is allowed for work. Burnand’s patent alternating current motor regulator is also displayed. This enables the users of motors to -economise by regulating their working pressure according to the magnitude of the work the machinery is doing. Incidentally, it also helps the Corporation supply department by keeping up the power factor of the system.

In 1909 advertisements in the Sheffield Independent said the company was “actual makers of motor cars for sale or hire”. Other adverts did not repeat this statement, instead stating it was ‘Wholesale dealers in Electrical Supplies” and that it was a contactor to the British and Canadian Governments. The electric motors produced by the company were in use in many factories around Sheffield and there are frequent adverts offering factory equipment for sale, including Burnand motors. From the mid-1920s, the company was known as W. E Burnard and Son as his son John William had begun work there. The factory was now on Shoreham Street.
The company has continued into the 21st century, albeit in a very different form. Rotary Magnets which is based at Halfway (on the south eastern boundary of Sheffield) claims its descent from the company started by William Ernest over 120 years ago.

World War 1

So far there no information about William Ernest’s service during the First World War. But it is almost certain that he was in the army as there is a record of the medals he received and in 1919 he was voted treasurer of an Old Comrades association formed for ex-members of the 455th (W. R.) Field Company of the Royal Engineers as the Telegraph reported, referring to him as Sergeant Major Burnard. Given his technical knowledge his service would vey probably have been with the Royal Engineers. He may not have been in any theatre of war as he was already 40 years old when the war started.

After the War

By the end of the war, with a growing family, William Ernest had moved to Totley. This may have been a temporary move as he announced soon after the move that he was looking to purchase a property in the area. However, by the mid-1920s he was living in Broomhill at 86 Ashdell Road which was advertised for auction in 1930 ‘by order of W E Burnand Esq who is leaving.’ His new residence was 8 Stumperlowe Hall Road in Fulwood.
Just before the outbreak of the Second World War, he purchased Holly Court in Ecclesall. This was a ‘gentleman’s estate’ with a large detached house set in over three acres and including three cottages. The purchase made news locally and when interviewed, William Ernest said he was considering dividing the house into two ‘very attractive houses’, plans for which were being drawn up. He was adamant that it was not going to become a public place, perhaps a reference to ‘Daffodil Sunday, when the house and grounds were thrown open to the public’ by the previous owner and was an eagerly anticipated event in the city .
William Ernest probably never resided at Holly Court. At the of start the war, the family was still living in Fulwood. Sometime after 1945, they moved to Stumperlowe Crescent Road.
Burnand was a vice president of the Sheffield and District Wireless Society and was clearly excited about the potential of radio both its technical aspects and its uses. In May 1920 some 40 members were at Redmires where they tuned into stations in Paris and elsewhere on the continent. The society held a lecture by William Ernest when he explained the current limitations of sound systems. In 1935 he spoke in a debate about radio advertising organised by the Incorporated Sales Managers Association, suggesting that radios advertising would not be limited to the spoken word but would be aided by television.
William Ernest was a very involved with of the Institute of Electrical Engineers and was chairman of the North Midland Centre between 1921 and 1922. This was just after the Sheffield Sub-Centre was formed. William served on the Sheffield Sub-Centre for 31 years over a period of 33 years, 19 years as Honorary Treasurer. The Institute had a vibrant social aspect which William Ernest enjoyed. During his time as chairman of the Sheffield Sub-Centre, he promoted an annual golf tournament and began a tradition of the chairman providing a basket of fruit for auction at the annual dinner dance.

Politics

William Burnand

William Ernest’s politics were to the right, as one might expect of a successful business man. In his chairman’s address to the IEE in 1921 he had shared his views on Labour unrest following the war criticising ‘the miner who produced three tons of coal when he could produce four and the bricklayer who only lays half the bricks he knows himself to be capable of.’ He made clear these were only examples and he was not singling them out for specific criticism. He said that working men were not wholly to blame, an equal share should be attached to ‘antecedent conditions which caused the men to adopt these tactics.’ Was this a veiled criticism of employers?
In 1938 he wrote and published a booklet that addressed the economic situation, trade barriers and the role of wages. He viewed a rise in wages as the cause of the slump and thus a reduction in wages would reduce unemployment and increase purchasing power. Clearly a free market advocate, he dismissed as quack remedies such measures as tariffs, quotas, taxation to aid the unemployed or government schemes such as marketing boards. He did not like trade unions. He was the guest speaker at a Rotary Club meeting in October 1938 and in early 1939, he shared his thoughts at a meeting of the Incorporated Sales Managers Association in Sheffield, but, as the Telegraph reported, ‘the majority did not agree with him.’

Family

William Ernest’s son, John William, had followed his father as an electrical engineer but also displayed mechanical engineering prowess. Like many young men of the time, he had a fascination with motor vehicles and speed.

The Independent reported in May 1937 that the younger Burnand had won an annual car race held on the sands at Southport. His vehicle had been built by him at his family home in Fulwood with the help of workmen from the Company. Many of the parts he had fabricated himself, the axle being one whose design was a secret! After his success in the Coronation Cup race that was held over 50 miles, he intended to enter the next race which was over 100 miles.
John William married Sheila Young in 1944 and in the following year their first child, Peter, was born. Peter was followed by a daughter, Christine. Perhaps as a new family man, John William decided that racing was too dangerous because the Sheffield Telegraph reported that he and his family were to travel along Inland waterways from Sheffield to Market Harborough in a 50 Foot Admiral’s Pinnace. But not all went to plan as at some point on the journey there was a bridge that was too low for the pinnace to navigate. And so he had no option but to turn his craft around and return to Sheffield .
John William died tragically young in 1951. William Ernest died four years later at the age of 80 years and Lucy his wife in 1976 aged 93. She continued to live on Stumperlowe Crescent Road throughout her years as a widow. All three are buried in Fulwood Graveyard.