William Henry White

“ At fourteen Elgar was apprenticed as a shipwright in Portsmouth dockyard, where his general education was continued at an excellent school for apprentices maintained by the admiralty. There he won a scholarship entitling him to advanced instruction. In 1864, when the admiralty, with the science and art department, established the Royal School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at South Kensington, Elgar was appointed, after a competitive examination among shipwright apprentices in the dockyards, one of eight students of naval architecture. ”

“ From 1879 to 1881 he was in Japan as adviser upon naval construction to the Japanese government, and from 1881 to 1886 resumed private practice in London, advising leading steamship companies on designs of new ships, but specially investigating the causes of loss of, or accident to, important vessels. ”

“ Of much literary ability, he long helped as an old student in the publication of the school's 'Annual.' From 1867 to 1871 Elgar was a junior officer of the shipbuilding department of the royal navy, and was employed at the dockyards and in private establishments. ”