The university records show that his pass at the age of 14 included pure mathematics, mechanics and hydrostatics – an evidence of his ability and bent, and of the remarkable standard of education reached over 150 years ago, when Henry Dymond was headmaster.
Edward Withy left Sidcot at the end of 1859 and in the summer of 1860 went to Stockton-On-Tees to learn iron shipbuilding at the works of Messrs. Richardson, Duck and Company, where he became a "Ship Draftsman Apprentice".
In this capacity he made a trip round the Cape to Bombay in 1867 and he spent some time in sketching and increasing his acquaintance with the work required of the steamers.
In February 1868, he married Miss Anne Treadgold of Stockton-On-Tees and during the remainder of that year he was engaged as draughtsman and over-looker at the building of the S.S. Deccan for the P. & O. Co., by Messrs. William Denny & Bros., of Dumbarton.
About this time, he also took a trip to Australia for the benefit of his health with his wife and son (Alfred James Withy, born 4 December 1869), and there developed a liking for the Colonies.
3252) for improvements in mixing, charging, and smelting iron ores was taken out by Edward Withy and William Gibson, of West Hartlepool, Durham.
Edward Withy was a hard student of the principles applicable in the work to which his powers were devoted, not neglecting the opportunities he enjoyed of bringing everything he learned to the test of practice.
Through the annual summer meetings of these bodies, he had extensive opportunities to visit and become acquainted with the operations of many of the largest industrial establishments of England and several on the Continent.
In 1885, Christopher Furness collaborated with Thomas Wilson to form the Wilson-Furness Line to operate services between Newcastle and New York and by 1891 the fleet contained 18 ships.
In addition to the North Atlantic service, they developed other American routes based principally on New York and including Bermuda and the West Indies.
After his retirement in 1884, Edward Withy and his wife, Anne and nine children (Alfred, Arthur, Bertha, Charles, Florence, Harold, Herbert, Marion and Walter) to New Zealand, and settled in Auckland.
Of his going to New Zealand, Edward Withy said, in a speech before the Hartlepool Ship Owners Society on the occasion of a farewell presentation in 1884: I might sum up my reasons for leaving the country into one.
As to slaving away at business to amass a considerable fortune for the purpose of leaving a large portion to each child, I think it one of the most harmful engagements in which a man can enter.
[4][5] For years Withy had been a Land Nationalist, a follower of Professor Alfred Russel Wallace, but on reading Progress and Poverty in the early 1880s he became a disciple of the 'Prophet of San Francisco'.
[7] His main objective was to do propaganda work for the Single Tax, and, owing to the prominence that he gave to this plank of his platform, he came seventh of ten candidates in the three-member electorate.
In character, in manners (even to me as an office boy), in qualities of mind, in loftiness of aims as a good citizen and as a conscientious Churchman, in every way he was an ideal among men.
When he gave up a prosperous business and the promise of a great commercial career and went to New Zealand most of his contemporaries thought it quixotic and foolish, but the sacrifice showed a noble spirit and proved that at any rate he knew how to pursue worthier ends than mere money-making He leaves a fragrant memory."