John Perry was born in Ulster on February 14, 1850, the second son of Samuel Perry, of Garvagh. He attended classes at the Model School, Belfast; and from 1864 to 1868 served his apprenticeship to the firm of Victor and David Coates, of the Lagan Foundry, Belfast, going through the drawing office and pattern shops. In 1868-70 he attended the engineering classes of Prof. James Thomson at the Queen’s College, Belfast, being allowed as a special privilege to go through the blacksmith’s, fitting, and erecting shops at the Lagan Foundry during the summer months. He attached great importance in later life to the fact that his theoretical and practical instruction thus went on hand in hand. He was allowed to graduate early as Bachelor of Engineering in 1870, obtaining first honours and the Gold Medal; and in the same year obtained a Whitworth Scholarship and accepted a post as second mathematical master and lecturer in physics at Clifton College, where he established a physical laboratory and a workshop in 1871. It has often been stated that these were the first established at any school : but Perry found later that there had been a workshop previously at Rossall, and in making the acknowledgment he added : “ These ideas were not mine ; they were those of the headmaster ” [Dr. Percival]. He left Clifton in 1874 to become the Honorary Assistant of Prof. Sir William Thomson at Glasgow; and in 1875 accepted a Joint Professorship of Engineering at the Imperial College of Engineering in Tokio, Japan. “ He was on duty from September 9, 1875, to Septembers 8, 1878, and gave lectures on steam, structure, and hydrodynamics. In all some 200 students attended his lectures, some of whom became professors in the Engineering College in succession to him, some again his pupils in London, and some important personages in industrial circles. Prof. Perry and his contemporaries may be said to have founded the development of Japanese industry. Special mention should be made of the fact that the professors occupied themselves ardently in researches beside their teaching duties.” (Letter from Prof. Shin Hirayama, March 26, 1926.)