Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 19,811
Likes: 596
From: NJ, NYC, LI
Bikes: 1940s Fothergill, 1959 Allegro Special, 1963? Claud Butler Olympic Sprint, Lambert 'Clubman', 1974 Fuji "the Ace", 1976 Holdsworth 650b conversion rando bike, 1983 Trek 720 tourer, 1984 Counterpoint Opus II, 1993 Basso Gap, 2010 Downtube 8h, and...
Sorry David, but I think the 36 spoke wheel can't be original. (All) English bikes of this vintage had 32 / 40 spoke count wheels. This wheel may be very old; and the original wheel may have been very similar; I don't know about that.
I'm pretty sure you could make any wheel from 26 x 1 3/8 to 27 x 1 1/4 fit, depending on what brake calipers. As far as fitting a wide range of wheel sizes goes, period-correct english calipers are excellent (as for braking power, well, not so much).