Biographies of chairmen, managers
&
other senior railway officers
The arrangement is alphabetical (surnames beginning):
Ba | Br | Ca | Co | Da | E | F | Ga | Gr | Ha | Ho | I | J | K | L | M | Mi | N | O | P | Ra | Ru | Sa | Sm | T | U | W | Wo |
This is regarded mainly as a by-product page as the main slant on biography is towards steam locomotive engineers, although it must be never forgotten that several senior officers, including the General Manager and Civil Engineer had greater influence than the Locomotive Superintendent and that board members, who might also hold other directorships were capable of considerable influence
Aldington, Charles
Born 20 December 1862; died 15 October 1922 (Who Was Who) Briefly
General Manager, GWR from 1919, but had to resign due to ill health (it had
been undermined during WW1) in June 1921. Had been Superintendent of the
Line since 1910. McDermot History of
the Great Western Railway rev. Clinker.
Allen, Sir Peter Christopher
Born at Mawmead, Ashtead, Surrey, on 8 September 1905, the son of
Sir Ernest King Allen (18641937), barrister and later assistant public
trustee, and his wife, Florence Mary, née Gellatly. After Harrow School
(191924) he studied natural sciences at Trinity College, Oxford
(19258), then joined Brunner Mond, part of newly formed Imperial Chemical
Industries (ICI) as a chemist. His first book on his lifelong obsession,
Railways of the Isle of Wight came
out the same year. After retirement he wrote Rails in the
Isle of Wight with A.B. Macleod. On 27 June 1931 he married Violet Sylvester
Wingate-Saul (1908/91951); they had two daughters.
Allen opted for management and was soon in ICI's Alkali Division at Winnington,
a thrusting and cosmopolitan outfit whose outstanding research unit discovered
polythene, a foundation of modern plastics, in 1933. A large self-confident
man who radiated enthusiasm, Allen relished the atmosphere. "We were good
and we knew it
rather brash and not very popular; we didn't care".
Allen's work was crucial in the commercial development of polyethylene. He
insisted, against opposition, on doubling its original production capacity,
expressing frustration when it became a key component of wartime radar sets
and ICI was unable to supply demand. "It maddens me that night fighter equipment
should wait on our incompetence", Allen wrote in his diary on 29 August 1941.
As managing director of the new plastics division from 1942 and chairman
from 1948, he oversaw the development of ICI's discoveries for wartime use
and the domestic revolution they brought. "Chemically, it is a good and exciting
time to be alive", he wrote in 1943.
1951 brought inevitable promotion to the ICI board but personal tragedy with
the death of his wife after twenty years of marriage. A year later came
remarriageon 21 October 1952; his second wife was Consuelo Maria Linares
Rivas (1924/51991)and a growing fascination with Spain, culminating
in his chairmanship of the Anglo-Spanish Society from 1973 to 1980. Allen's
responsibilities on ICI's board included growth sectorspaint, plastics,
and the new Terylene fibre. As the company's involvement in synthetic fibres
mushroomed, he became a director of British Nylon Spinners. But he increasingly
fretted over the lack of hands-on engagement of board members and jumped
at the chance to become president (1959) and chairman (1962) of Canadian
Industries Ltd, ICI's subsidiary in Canada. It was a turning point, fostering
a driving interest in improving productivity and a belief in the importance
of ICI's involvement in North America that flowered when Allen became chairman.
It also fed his passion for golf and, with wide connections with American
business, he was elected as the first British member at Augusta.
Returning to oversee ICI's European operation in 1962, he became deputy chairman
in 1963 at a time of controversy. There was growing economic pressure on
British industry. ICI was shaken by its high-profile failure to take over
Courtaulds. Allen was heavily involved in export promotion and was knighted
in 1967. But when a disillusioned ICI board forced the retirement of Sir
Paul Chambers in 1968, he was planning retirement. His colleagues thought
differently. Disliking the front runner, Richard Beeching, who had made few
friends after returning from rationalizing the railways, and feeling that
two younger candidates were not ready, they turned to Allen, to his surprise.
He was chairman from 1968 to 1971. Allen's successor, Jack Callard, encapsulated
his contemporaries' view of Allen's 'rock-like stature, his warm and jovial
manner, his openness to other people's views, his interest in everyone and
all things, his decisiveness, his love of games, particularly golf' (The
Independent, 2 Feb 1993). Others marked the rapidity with which he could
crystallize a lengthy document or discussion, his efforts to improve
productivity, and his criticism of ICI offices for 'collecting useless statistics
and disseminating useless knowledge' (Daily Telegraph, 1 Feb 1993). Others
noted impatience; when he visited a site he always seemed eager to get to
the next engagement, often something to do with railways. And the books
flowedfour on railways and one each on golf and Spain before he became
chairman and more afterwards. Allen's period in office was difficult but
set markers for the future. He steadied the board. He presided over, but
was not much involved in, complex and ultimately disastrous moves to extend
ICI's profitable fibres operation downstream by buying textile companies
like Viyella. His productivity drive was prescient but not initially successful:
ICI profits, to his chagrin, shrank. His crucial legacy was to encourage,
against considerable opposition from heavy chemical traditionalists, a strategic
move to establish ICI in the USA with a major acquisition. By the end of
the century, when 40 per cent of ICI's business and even more of Zeneca's,
its successful offspring, came from the USA, the significance of Allen's
strategy was obvious. But in 1971 the board wobbled. The key decision came
only days after he retired. In an unprecedented move, he was asked back for
a pre-board discussion at which his weight helped sway the decision. As a
result Britain's biggest manufacturer became a genuine multinational. Allen's
incisive thinking was missed as the company was slow to reshape itself in
the seventies.
On retirement, surrounded by railway memorabilia which included a full-size
Spanish shunting engine, there were more books and more travel, but Allen's
golf was hampered by a failed hip replacement. He became a director of British
Insulated Callender's Cables. The British Transport Trust recognized his
work by naming a building at the York Railway Museum after him. Allen's second
wife died in 1991. He died on 24 January 1993 at his home, Telham Hill House,
Telham Lane, Battle, Sussex. ODNB s lightly modified.
Allen, William Philip [Bill]
Who Was Who notes that he was born on 11 November 1888 and died on
4 May 1958. Bonavia's British Rail: the first 25 years records that
staff matters, perhaps inevitably, were entrusted to an ex-trade-unionist.
W.P. ('Bill') Allen, former General Secretary of the Associated Society of
Locomotive Engineers and Firemen, who was short and cheerful, with a fine
old-fashioned waxed moustache. His approach was friendly and down-to-earth,
and he made the move from one side of the negotiating table to the other
appear quite effortless. He was not in the least inclined to try to payoff
old scores, and showed a warmer personality than his counterpart in the British
Transport Commission, John Benstead from the NUR,
even though he may have lacked Benstead's intellectual powers. His real success
was shown by the fact that he had no enemies on either side of the negotiating
table. A faintly malicious yet quite affectionate story was told about Bill
Allen, derived from his dislike of formality and his insistence upon using
Christian names. When he was momentarily unable to remember the name of someone
whom he might be clapping on the shoulder, he always fell back on 'Arthur',
so that a number of pseudo-Arthurs were always around in the dusty corridors
of No 222.
McKillop's The lighted
flame includes a wealth of information on Bill Allen:
"He is the born trade union leader. His is an unfailing humour and understanding
of humanity, and he is quite unaware of his natural qualities. It
was inevitable that he should gravitate to the ranks of the Associated. His
father, a prominent member of the Society, which he joined in 1886, was not
enthusiastic when young Bill Allen decided to join the railway service. I
expect Allen senior had visions of young Bill becoming' something better'
than an engine driver. Our future General Secretary joined the G.N.R. at
Homsey as a cleaner. A1 No. 60114
was named W.P. Allen.
Allport, Sir James Joseph
Born in Birmingham on 27 February 1811 and died in the Midland Grand
Hotel at St Pancras on 25 April 1892 (ODNB).
(Marshall gives incorrect date of death).
Ellis' Midland Railway noted
that the Midland's great general manager, James Allport, steered the company
through the troubled seas of nineteenth-century boom and slump, and had brought
it to its renaissance. He was a characteristic eminent Victorian of the best
type, astute and forceful, yet genial and kind, not unaware of his merit,
but regarding it with the same sort of satisfaction as he would have done
in considering others.
By 28 he was chief clerk to the Birmingham and Derby Junction, and shortly
after became general manager. He was made redundant on formation of the Midland
Railway, but George Hudson placed him in command of the Newcastle and Darlington
Junction, which he saw expand under his management into the York, Newcastle
and Berwick. In 1850 he went as general manager to the Manchester, Sheffield
and Lincolnshire Railway, and thence, in the same office, to the Midland
in October, 1853. In the spring of 1854, he joined the Midland Board, but
in 1857 he returned to office as general manager. From this he retired at
the beginning of 1880, returning to the Board to fill the vacancy left by
Edward Shipley Ellis, who had been chairman since 1873. A diplomatic move
of 1877, which did not bear fruit, was for the joint acquisition by the Midland
and the Great Northern of Allport's sometime command, the Manchester, Sheffield
and Lincolnshire Railway.
On retirement he was presented £10,000 by vote of the Midland proprietors.
In 1884 he was knighted for his services to cheap travellers. He lived to
see the fiftieth anniversary of the Railway Clearing House, of which he was
the father, and died, full of years, within sound of the Midland engine
whistles.
Towards the close of his long and active career, Sir James Allport said:
"If there is one part of my public life on which I look back with more
satisfaction than on anything else, it is with reference to the boon we conferred
on third-class travellers. I have felt saddened to see third-class passengers
shunted on to a siding in cold and bitter weather-a train containing amongst
others many lightly-clad women and children-for the convenience of allowing
the more comfortable and warmly-clad passengers to pass them. I have even
known third-class trains to be shunted into a siding to allow express goods
to pass. When the rich man travels, or if he lies in bed all day, his capital
remains undiminished, and perhaps his income flows in all the same. But when
the poor man travels, he has not only to pay his fare, but to sink his capital,
for his time is his capital; and if he now consumes only five hours instead
of ten in making a journey, he has saved five hours of time for useful
labour-useful to himself, his family, and to society. And I think with even
more pleasure of the comfort in travelling we have been able to confer on
women and children. But it took twenty-five years to get it done."
Ellis British railway history
(page 331) noted that he was known as "the Bismark of Railway Politics"
.
ODNB biography by William Carr revised by Robert
Brown. Also biography by Terry Gourvish in Dictionary of Business
Biography. Biography in
Vaughan's Railwaymen, politics
and money (Appendix 5: gives alternative death date)
Nock, O.S. Railway enthusuast's
encyclopedia
Anderson, Sir Alan Garrett
Born 9 Maarch 1877 (son of Elizabeth Garrett Anderson. Died 4 May
1952 (Who's Who). On Board of LMS and previously that of Midland Railway.
Controller of Railways, Ministry of War Transport, 194145; Chairman
of Railway Executive, 194145. Director of LMS and Chairman of the Railway
Executive from 1941. Chairman of Anderson Green & Co. and of the Orient
Line. MP for the City of London 1935-40. Many business interests.
See Burgess: A tour of inspection...
LMS Journal, 2007 (18), 75.. Secret meeting with General Montgomery
for pre-D-day briefing in Shareholders' Meeting Room at Euston Station on
22 February 1944. Locomotive Mag.,
1944. 50. 45..
Armytage, Sir George John
Born on 26 April 1842. Chairman of the Lancashire & Yorkshire
Railway from 1887 to 1918. Died 8 November 1918.
Marshall Lancashire
& Yorkshire Railway. V. 2 and Who Was Who
Ashfield (Lord): Albert Henry
Stanley
Born at New Normanton in Derbyshire, son of Henry Knattriess, on 8
August 1874. Father worked for Pullman and emigrated with his parents to
USA in 1880. Having entered transport management on the Detroit Street Railway
he became the General Manager of the Public Service Corporation of New Jersey
and was sent to London by the Yerkes Group to become General Manager of the
District Railway and Underground Electric Railways in 1907 (see
Horne London's District Railway and
Locomotive Mag., 1907,
13, 174). He was President of the Board of Trade between 1916
and 1919 and became the first Chairman of the London Passenger Transport
Board in 1933. He was knighted in 1914 and made Baron Ashfield of Southwell
in 1920. He died on 4 November 1948.
Biography by Theo Barker in ODNB.
Also given prominence by Hendry.
See also Stephen Halliday's Fraud,
liquidation and ingratitude. Backtrack, 2008, 22, 437 for
portrait with daughter. John Helm regards the death of Lord Ashfield in the
year that the British Transport Commission was formed was a crucial loss
(Backtrack, 2010, 24,
654.). Blue plaque at 23 South Street London W1 see
Humm J. Rly Canal Hist. Soc.,,
2015, 38, 252..Elliot on
Ashfield.
Aslett, Alfred
Born in York on 3 July 1847 and died at Ulverston on 28 April 1928
(Peter Robinson, Backtrack, 2005,
19, 762). With frontispiece portrait. Son of a railwayman with
same name, who had been GNR Divisional Superintendent at York and Peterborough.
Brought up in those cities and education included that at Peterborogh Grammar
School. Subject joined GNR at Nottingham, and then moved in 1872 to GNR
Headquarters at King's Cross (Audit Office). He then joined the Eastern &
Midland Railway at King's Lynn as Chief Accountatnt. He became Secretary
and General Manager of the Cambrian Railways in 1891, before moving to the
Furness Railway in 1895 as its General Manager.
Rly. Mag. 1898, 3, 122-37..
Rush's Furness
Railway traces his final energetic career until he retired
from the FR in 1918 at the age of 71..
Baring, Everard
Born 5 December 1865. Educated Eton (presumably reasons for name selected
to start Schools class) and Sandhurst. Military career. Director National
Provincial Bank. Chairman Southern Railway from 1924 until his death on 7
May 1932. Bonavia History of
the Southern Railway record that he was a General, the Hon. Everard
Baring of the famous merchant banking family. He had been Military Secretary
to the Viceroy of India and was a director of several banks and insurance
companies; his interest in railways had started in 1913 with the Rhodesia
& Mashonaland Railways, where he was involved in reorganisation. On the
Southern he was well able to deal with questions of external relations and
public policy, especially over the negotiations about the proposed removal
of Charing Cross Station to make way for a road bridge. He was described
after his death as 'one of the kindest and bravest of men', and a friend
wrote that 'no eyes could express so much amusement'; the nickname of 'The
Imp' given him in boyhood stayed with him, so far as intimate friends were
concerned, to the end. This would make him an excellent foil to the quiet
and serious Walker. He was barely sixty when he became Chairman and his seven
and three-quarter years at Waterloo covered the period of the Southern's
major progress, especially electrification. His death on 7 May 1932 must
have saddened Walker a great deal. Elliot
shows how Baring was instrumental in the Southern Railway acquiring a
public relations officer.
Barrie, Derek Stiven Maxwelton
Born 8 August 1907 in Newport (Mon.); died 24 June 1989. Barrie was
like George Dow: a professional railwayman, a PR man, and someone who could
write. His main area of enthusiast interest was Wales and he was to
contribute one of the better volumes in the Regional History series Educated
Apsley House, Clifton and Tonbridge School. Career in London and provincial
journalism (Daily Graphic, Allied Newspapers, etc), reporter and
sub-editor, 192432. Joined LMS Railway in 1932; on return from war
service, rejoined LMS, 1946; PRO Railway Executive, 1948; Chief PRO British
Transport Commission, 1956; Assistant Secretary-General., BTC, 1958; Assistant
General Manager, York, 1961; Chairman., British Railways (Eastern) Board,
and General Manager, British Railways Eastern Region, 196870. Member.
Council, Institute. of Transport, 1968. Served with Royal Engineers,
194146; Hon. Colonel 74 Movement Control Regiment, RE and RCT,
196167; Major, Engr. and Rly Staff Corps (T & AVR), 1967, Lt-Col
196873. Bronze Star Medal (US), 1945. OStJ 1968 Author A Regional
History of the Railways of Great Britain, vol. 12, South Wales, 1980;
numerous railway historical books and monograph. History of the Taff Vale
Railway published by Oakwood Press and reviewed in
Locomotive Mag., 1939, 45,
157. OBE 1969 (MBE 1945). Mainly Who Was Who.
Ian Allan Driven by
steam.manages to call him "Barry" whilst contributing an astute
assessment of him: "Derek whom I first knew as PRO at Euston whilst Dow was
at Liverpool Street. I did not particularly like him. I thought he was
supercilious and pompous but he became more friendly in later years when
he was appointed PRO to the British Transport Commis- sion but I always felt
he was slightly hostile. He certainly tried to put me in my place in print
once or twice when I had kicked over the traces probably spurred on by John
Elliot, the Chairman of the BTC, who himself once wrote me a stern letter
threatening the withdrawal of all 'facilities' if I made any more public
criticisms of BTC affairs. But no-one can deny that Barry was a wonderful
story-teller and his after dinner tales of exploits on railways in the Welsh
valleys were apocryphal. He ultimately became GM of the Eastern Region at
York which was rather surprising as he was always so much an LM man: a queer
quirk too that he outran Dow, essentially an LNER man who only made it to
Divisional Manager in the LM Region before retiring."Books: Modern
locomotives of the L.M.S. London: LMS, [1937]. 34pp. + 12 plates Ottley
6825 : see also advertisement by The Locomotive Publshing Co. in Rly Mag.,
1938, 83 (493 July) p. xv where notes that Coronation is in colour, and letter
Backtrack, 2007, 21,
125 (letter by Paul Ross), "Review" in Loco. Rly Carr. Rev., 1937, 43,
335. Notes that cover illustration was colour painting by M. Secretan The
Sirhowy Valley and its railways with Charles E. Lee reviewed
Locomotive Mag., 1940,
46, 244.
Barrington-Ward, Victor [Sir Michael]
Born in Worcester on 17 July 1887. Died in 1972.
Bonavia's British Rail: the first
25 years notes that railway operating on the Railway Executive was
placed under V.M. Barrington-Ward, former Divisional General Manager (Southern
Area) of the LNER. B-W, as he was universally known, was tall, with very
blue eyes and a rather austere, clean-shaven face (Hughes LNER contains a
portrait). He was a member of a distinguished family, his brothers including
an editor of The Times and a famous surgeon. His early training had
been on the Midland Railway under that wayward genius (Sir) Cecil Paget who,
as General Superintendent, had, with J.H. Follows, introduced the pioneer
system of train control, later extended to the whole LMS. B-W had transferred
to the LNER where his fondness for Midland practices led him into a prolonged
tussle with C.M. Jenkin Jones, the supreme exponent of the alternative North
Eastern Railway control principles. B-W was famous for his taciturnity. He
seldom gave reasons for his decisions, but always commanded respect even
from those who disagreed with him. And if a decision was taken over his head
with which he disagreed, he would still loyally carry it out. His loyalty
to the Midland Railway was legendary; Jenkin Jones once wrote of B-W 'putting
on his Derby hat and, facing the North West, saying his morning prayers to
the gods of the Midland Pantheon. Rly Mag., 1927. 61, 414-15 (includes
portrait) notes that he was educated at Westminster School and Edinburgh
University where he obtained an engineering degree. During WW1 he became
a Lieut Colonel in the Railway Operating Division and received a DSO The
Times obituary (31 July 1972) notes that he died on 28 July 1972 and
was born on 17 July 1887 at Duloe. This obituary observes his bravery in
both World Wars and his uncompromising integrity and undeviating tenacity
of purpose"Modern developments in railway operating practice presented to
Institute of Transport meeting in November
Locomotive Mag., 1937, 43,
371.. Operational organisation in
Railway Executive. Unification
of British Railways: administrative principles and practice. London:
Modern Transport. 1951..
Bell, Robert
Assistant General Manager, LNER: according to
Bonavia (The four railways p. 71)
dour Scot who managed traffic apprenticeship scheme which ensured excellence
of LNER management. Author of several books including
official World War II history
Bird, Charles K.
Died in 1958. Chief Regional Officer of the Eastern Region of British
Railways. He was a former LNER man whose intellectual qualities (he had been
a Wrangler at Cambridge) were outstanding. He had a quick wit and on occasion
a biting tongue: see also his mordant observations on Sir
Brian Robertson. The impression he gave was that the ordinary office
tasks of a manager scarcely extended his brain sufficiently and could bore
him. Sadly, the signs of poor health which were to lead to his death in 1958,
at the age of barely 60, were already beginning to appear.
Bonavia British Rail: the first
25 years. Terry Jenkins Sir
Ernest Lemon includes a couple of pictures which feature Bird and
observes that he served on the Railway Chairmen's Commission during
WW2.
Blee, David
Born 7 August 1899; died 26 September 1979 (had retired 1961). Served
World War I from 191719, France, Belgium, Germany. Last Chief Goods
Manager (from 1946) of the Great Western Railway: initial member of the Railway
Executive where Terry Gourvish in British
Railways, 1948-73: a business history. (1986) noted that an intensive
publicity drive was organised by David Blee with the aim of cutting wagon
turnround time and freeing idle stock. A wagon discharge campaign, which
started in November, cut the average daily 'leave-over' of loaded wagons
by a third, releasing about 35,000 wagons by the end of the year; and average
terminal-user time for all vehicles, loaded and empty, was reduced from 2.13
days at the beginning of the campaign to 1.96 days only four weeks later.
These examples, by showing what could be done with more determined management,
suggest that the companies had failed to seize earlier opportunities for
lessening the effects of austerity restrictions. He was General Manager of
the unwieldy London Midland Region between 1956 and 1961.
Bonavia's British Rail: the first
25 years noted that Blee was slim and clean-shaven, and that his
rise had been rapid on `the Great Western. "He was a man of great sincerity
and inner kindliness, but his ambition and a certain lack of humour made
it difficult for him to relax. He saw himself as a super-salesman of railways
and liked to relate how, when in his younger days, he had been Goods Agent
at Slough, he had been accustomed after office hours to walk down to the
Great West Road to watch the lorries passing and to consider each one an
insult and a personal challenge. [He} lacked the downright approach of some
of his colleagues, and was not an intellectual like C.K. Bird or Jenkin Jones
of the LNER or Wood of the LMS. It was perhaps not surprising that David
Blee built up his supporting team very largely from his old company. Great
Western influence in commercial matters was looked at with some doubts by
those from other companies, however, because that railway had adhered to
the old-fashioned system of leaving passenger commercial matters under a
Superintendent of the Line primarily concerned with operating.
Bonavia Br. Rlys Illustrated,
2, 102 relates how he floundered on the London Midland Region (was
too verbose and Woolly minded and was retired early.
Loco. Rly Carr. Waon Rev., 1956,
62, 19-20 gives a summary of an Institute of Transport paper entitled
Trends in British transport. A review of commercial principles in
Railway Executive. Unification
of British Railways: administrative principles and practice. London:
Modern Transport. 1951... Photographs from an album presented to him
on his retirement. Backtrack,
2020, 34, 306; more from same
source Backtrack, 2021, 35,
218 which notes photographer was John Spencer Gilks,
Bolton, Sir Ian Frederick Cheney
Baronet, born on 29 January 1889, and sent down from Scotland to Eton.
Served in WW1. Chartered Accountant. Served during WW1 and on British Transport
Commission from 1947 to 1959. Chairman of the Scottish Area Board from 1956
to 1965. President of the Scottish Boy Scout Association. Lord Lieutenant
of Stirlingshire. Died 12 January 1982. See article by
A.J. Mullay in Backtrack, 2009,
23, 262 for his contribution to railway walks.
Bonsor, Sir [Henry] Cosmo Orme
Born at Great Bookham into a brewing family (Combe, Delafield &
Co.) on 2 September 1848. Educated at Eton. Involved in consolidation of
brewing industry. Chairman of the South Eastern & Chatham Managing Committee
and formerly Chairman of the South Eastern Railway from 1898. "During his
tenure of office the two railways, once the butt of music-hall jokes, became
models of technical advance, efficiency, and competent management, although
the price of rationalization was high, resulting in the addition of £9
million to the capital account between 1899 and 1912". Director of Bank of
England and MP. Died in Nice on 4 December 1929..
ODNB entry by Terry Gourvish.
Buckley, J.F.
Chairman Cambrian Railways: 1886-1900
(Rly Mag., 1900, 7,
190)
Burgess, Henry Givens
Born at Finnoe House in Tipperary on 6 April 1859; died 23 April 1937.
Lived in Ireland in Kingstown and at Enniscorthy in County Wexford. Was Director
of the Great Southern Railways. See Whitehouse
and St John Thomas' LMS 150 page 38 for brief pen portait of Rt.
Hon. H.G. Burgess; also M.C. Reed'sThe
London & North Western Railway: a history. He had been successively
the LNWR representative in Scotland, then in Ireland where he was the Director
of Transportation in the latter part of WW1. He became the second General
Manager of the LMS and served in that capacity between 1924 and 1927:
there he was known to senior staff as "The Right Honourable Gentleman" due
to being a privy councillor and Senator of the Irish Free State:
Bury, Oliver Robert Hawke
Born 3 November 1861. Son of barrister; educated Westminster. Great
uncle first Manager of GNR in 1847. From 1 January 1879 he was articles as
a pupil to W. Adams of the LSWR. In 1881 he went to Hunter & English
where he worked on a floating crane and on the construction of a distillery
(Marshall). Having been Assistant Engineer
on the Coleford Railway in October 1884 he was approinted resident engineer
of the Great Western Railway of Brazil under Alison Janson, also becoming
locomotive superintendent in 1885. In 1892 he was appointed Chief Engineer
and Manager of the Great Western Railway of Brazil, in 1894 he moved to a
similar position on the Entre Rios Railway in Argentina and then to the Buenos
Aires & Rosario Railway. He became General Manager of the GNR in England
on 1 July 1902. He was a member of the Ralway Executive Committee during
WW1. In 1912 he resigned and joined the Board of the GNR and became a Director
of the LNER until his resignation in December 1945 shortly before his death
in London on 21 March 1946. He retained widespread business interests including
many in South America. Considering his background it is not difficult to
see why the senior managers of the LNER had to be of the calibre of Gresley
and Wedgewood to be able to survive.
Railway
Magazine 1908, 22, 441.
Bushrod, F.
Bushrod [Deputy Operating Superintendent, Southern Railway and ex-LSWR]
was one of the dwindling generation of officials who believed in doing things
in style; we put up at the best hotels, and for our tour a large and comfortable
car with a liveried chauffeur was engaged for the day. On our return to London
by a semi.fast making several stops, the position of the reserved compartment
on the train was notified from one stop to the next so that the stationmaster
and his chief inspector, all spruced up, would be on the spot as the train
drew up to make obeisance and give an account of their stewardship during
the stop, just as if Bushrod were a potentate-quite amusing! Later in January
we investigated shunting on the Somerset & Dorset line at Templecombe.
Holcroft. Locomotive
adventure.
Butterworth, Sir Alexander Kaye
Born Henbury Court, Gloucestershire on 4 December 1854; died London
23 January 1946 (confirmed Times obituary). Educated Marlborough College
and London University; graduated LLB 1877. Barrister of Inner Temple 1878-83.
Entered solicitor's dept, GWR, 1883, Was active in Railway Rates Inquiry
1889-90. Clerk to Bedfordshire County Coundl 1890-1. 1891 appointed solicitor
to NER until 2. Msarch 1906 when he succeeded George S Gibb as general manager
NER. Under his administration the NER brought into use the Riverside Quay
at Hull for the joint NER/LYR steamer service to Zeebrugge, in 1907; new
excursion platforms at Scarborough, 1908. He negotiated the NER interests
in the South Yorkshire Joint Railway, the AxhoIme Joint Railway and the High
Level Wear Bridge, Sunderland, 1909; the Shildon-Newport electrification
and the NER/HBR Joint Dock at Hull, 1914.
Grant Culllen. NBRSG Journal,
2020 (141), 25. In 1913 he was chairman of the General Managers' Conference
of the Railway Clearing House. He was knighted 1 January 1914. Member of
Railway Executive Committee during WW1, and of the Railway Advisory Committee
associated with the Ministry of Transport. Served on the Civil Service
Arbitration Board 1917-20, 1921-2. His last task before retirement in 1921
was the NER/HBR amalgamation. In 1884 he married Julia Wigan who died in
1911 and their only child, the composer George Butterworth, born 1885, was
killed in WWl in 1916. According to Blakemore's review of Bill Fawcett's
The North Eastern Railway's two palaces of business
(Backtrack, 2008, 22,
189) opted to work in that railway's London office.
Geoffrey Hughes shows how Butterworth
was excluded from the management of the LNER in favour of
R.L. Wedgwood who became the General Manager of the
group. Times obituary notes that he appeared at Wimbledon in the early
days of the tennis championship; also notes his fairness and sympathy in
dealing with questions of employment. Ottley lists three books which he authored:
A treatise on the law relating to rates and traffic on railways and
canals. London: 1889 (O 3554); The practice of the Railway and Canal
Commission (O 3555) and The law relating to maximum rates and charges
on railways. London: 1897 (O 3571)
Calthrop, Guy
Born March 1870. Joined LNWR as a Cadet in 1886, under Mr Neal,
Superintendent of the Line. In 1898 he became Chief Outdoor Assistant to
the Superintendent of the Line and in 1901 he became Personal Assistant to
Sir Frederick Harrison. In 1902 he left the LNWR to become the General
Superintendent of the Caledonian Railway (see
NBR Study Group Journal No. 32 for
correspondence with W.F. Jackson in 1908/9) and in October 1908 he was promoted
to the position of General Manager (see
Railway Magazine 1908, 22, 368), but two years later he
left to become the General Manager of the Buenos Ayres and Pacific Railway
(Locomotive Mag., 1910,
16, 135) and in 1913 he was offered the post of General Manager
of the LNWR, but Sir Frank Ree did not provide a smooth transition for Calthrop,
and it was only following Ree's death in February 1914 that Calthrop was
able to take up his appoinment, just on the outbreak of WW1. For much of
WW1 he was seconded to the Board of Trade and died from influenza at the
early age of 48 on 23 February 1919. He was in charge of allocating locomotive
coal in Scotland during WW1 (see J. North
British Rly Locomotive Study Gp, 2020 (147), 52. Thus the LNWR
and the LMS had lost a brilliant manager.
Reed. MC. London & North Western
Railway. 1996.
Cameron, Thomas Forbes
Cameron was educated in Edinburgh, but began his railway career as
a traffic apprentice on the North Eastern Railway in 1912 and saw service
in the 1914-18 war in the Northumberland Fusiliers, and the Directorate of
Light Railways in France. After filling numerous District Office posts, he
went, in 1934, to the York Headquarters, eventually being appointed assistant
divisional general manager. He joined the chief general manager's staff in
1942, and later became assistant general manager (Works and General). He
returned to Scotland in 1943 as Acting Divisional General Manager in 1943.
With some reluctance on the part of the BTC, which would have prefered
Robert Inglis; nevertheless, Cameron became
Chief Regional Officer of the Scottish Region at a salary of £3,750,
well in escess of that of the CROs of either the Eastern or North Eastern
Regions (Mullay: Scottish
Region). Bonavia (British
Rail: the first 25 years) noted that his LMS counterpart had been
due for retirement: TFC was certainly one of the ablest men in the railway
service though this did not always appear in his rather lugubrious assessment
of situations. His achievement in welding together the ex-LMS and ex-LNER
components in the new Region testified to his capacity, though some amusement
was caused by his insistence upon continuing to occupy a flat in the North
British Hotel, Edinburgh, and travelling daily (by car) to his new Regional
Headquarters in Glasgow.
Campbell, Lt-Col Hon. Henry Walter
Born 23 March 1835; died 17 December 1910. Director LSWR. Served with
distinction in Crimean War, 185455.
Castleman, Charles
Born in Allendale House, Wimborne in 1807. Died in Eastleigh on 17
July 1876. Solicitor from Wimborne Minster, who according to
Ellis's South Western Raiilway
was rich helped to promote the Southampton & Dorchester Railway which
followed a wayward route which came to be known as Castleman's Snake or
Castleman's Corkscrew. He briefly became Chairman of the LSWR,
Castleman, R,F,C.
Chairman Retired Railway Officers ' Association.
Locomotive Mag., 1931,
37, 125
Churchill, Viscount (Victor Albert Francis
Charles Spencer)
Born on 23 October 1864 and died 3 January 1934. Extremely aristocratic
Eton-schooled, Guardsman became Chairman of the GWR in 1908, and remained
so until his death. Biographical details from Who was who (electronic
version). Portrait in Nock's Great
Western in the twenieth century. Churchill also chaired a couple
of shipping companies. Strutt
(Backtrack, 2014, 28, 308 et seq footnote 7) asserts that
hee "served with immense success as GWR chairman for 25 years", but in spite
of being a senior courtier his domestic life was a shambles. The previous
footnote (on expenditure at Fishguard) hints that capital may have been wasted
thereat. Fell out with brilliant Sir Felix Pole who took
off for AEI (a significant move because Great Western Railway failed to tackle
electric traction). See also Nock, O.S.
Railway enthusuast's encyclopedia
Claughton, Gilbert Henry
Born 21 February 1856, son of the Bishop of St. Albans. Educated Eton.
Apprenticed at Beyer Peacock. Studied at King's College, London. Mother was
related to Earl of Dudley and Claughton became chief mineral agent for the
Dudley Estates. He was mayor of Dudley and a director of the United Counties
Bank, as well as of the LNWR. He became Chairman of the LNWR in 1911. Reed
noted that he had a quiet humour and includes a portrait of him with senior
drivers at Crewe. Suggests that early death (27 June 1921) was due to the
arduous demands of WW1. Mostly Reed, but
also Who Was Who.
Nock, O.S. Railway enthusuast's
encyclopedia
Clinton, Lord
Charles Forbes-Trelusis, 21st Baron Clinton resided at Heaton Sackville
near Petrockstowe. Owned large estates and was Chairman of the Forestry
Commission as well as a Director of the Southern Railway.
See Burgess: A tour of inspection...
LMS Journal, 2007 (18), 75.
Cobbold, John Chevallier
Born 24 August 1797; died 6 October 1882. Ipswich brewer and politician.
Member of greatly respected Suffolk family: involved in formation of Eastern
Union Railway from Ipswich to Colchester, especially the Act of 19 July 1844
and was also behind the Ipswich to Bury line and its amalgamation with the
EUR. (Allen, C.J. The Great Eastern Railway. Bruce Laws. Ipswich:
a hub for Suffolk railways. Backtrack,
2021, 35, 607. Also driving force behind Tendering Hundred Railway
(Railways South East, 2,
183) and Hadleigh Railway
(Backtrack, 2018, 32,
714).
Colville, Charles John, 1st Viscount of
Culross
Born 23 Novemeber 1818. Died 1 July 1903. Educated Harrow. (Who
was who) According to Lord Colville's report to his directors [of the
GNR] at Kings Cross, Moon presided over a. small gathering consisting of
Sir Daniel Gooch (Great Western), Lord Colville (G.N.R.) and the Chairmen
of the Caledonian, L.S.W.R., L.Y.R. and Midland Railways. Moon opened by
referring to the Great Eastern's request [for through carriages to Birmingham],
'which has led me to consider the brake question seriously'. He thought 'the
time would soon come when the Board of Trade would go to Parliament to compel
the adoption of an automatic brake'.
Lord Colville continued Engineers should meet to discuss the possibilities of this coupling. Webb claimed that most Locomotive Engineers were in favour of the vacuum brake pure and simple, but all the Chairmen at the meeting were of the opinion that it would be impossible to prevent the principle being made automatic. We finally decided that the Locomotive Engineers of the several Companies should meet to discuss the feasibility of adopting a universal continuous brake. Brown Great Northern locomotive engineers V.1. On page 210 Brown makes the tantalizing statement that Colville as a member of the Locomotive Committee had "shown great intereset in Stirling's work."
Conacher, Charles L.
General Manager Isle of Wight Central Railway.
Rly Mag., 2, 401. Son
of John Conacher below: see Rous-Marten
Rly Mag., 2,
567.
Conacher, John
Railway Magazine
Illustrated Interview, 2, 289
states that career began on Scottish Central Railway. He then moved to Cambrian
Railways where he was, in turn, Accountant, Secretary and General Manager,
from whence he moved to NBR as General Manager on 11 August 1891 at a salary
of £2500 per annum. His sojourn on the NBR was far from happy as he
was forced to resign through Board manoeuvres worthy of Macbeth, where one
of the main players was Wemyss who actually built a
railway to serve his coal mines in competition with that of which he was
supposedly Chairman. Other great railway managers, such as Sir Henry
Oakley were shocked at the mistreatment of Conacher and some returned their
free passes to him for his personal use to show their distaste for the corrupt
NBR Board. See Donald Cattenach NBRSG
Journal ((92), 16. See also
John Thomas (North British
Railway, Vol. 2). Having served the new electricity supply industry,
Conacher returned to railway management on the Cambrian Railways.
Cook, Thomas
Born on 22 November 1808 at 9 Quick Close, Melbourne, Derbyshire.Thomas
Cook organized a special train (excursion) from Leicester to Loughborough
to run on 5 July 1841 for those wishing to attend a temperance meeting. In
1842 an excursion to Edinburgh was organized. His son, John Mason (born in
Market Harborough on 13 January 1834; died on 6 March 1899, at Mount Felix,
his residence in Walton-on-Thames) joined his father in the business which
grew rapidly during the Great Exhibition of 1851. The Parish Exhibtion of
1855 encouraged foreign travel: over 100,000 travelled with Thomas Cook.
In 1865 his son became a Partner in the business. Offices were established
in Fleet Street, London. In 1865 America was visited to encourage travel
to Europe including the British Isles. Tours to the Holy Land and to Egypt
were started in 1869. Died at Thorncroft, Knighton, Leicester, on 18 July
1892. Piers Brendon ODNB. Statue outside
Leicester station see Backtrack,
2011, 25, 740 Railway Magazine
1898, 3, 40-8.
Corble, O.H.
Educated at Bancrofts. Assistant General Manager LNER in period prior
to nationalisation. Bonavia: Railway
Wld, 1975, 36, 322.
In 1938 he had been elected Secretary of the Locomotive Testing Station at
Rugby. G. Morton of the LMS was Accountant.
Cotton, Edward John
Cotton was born in Rochester (Kent) on 1 June 1829. He joined the
GWR in the Traffic Department at Paddington in October 1845 and moved to
the Railway Clearing House as a clerk in 1847. In 1853 he became the Manager
of the Waterford & Kilkenny Railway and in October 1857 he beacme Manager
of the Belfast & Ballymena Railway. In 1866 he was paid £1000 per
annum, the highest salary in Ireland, by which time the railway had become
the Belfast & Northern Counties Railway. In 1869 this was increased still
further to £1200 per annum. Cotton retained an interest in the Railway
Clearing House and in the Irish Railway Clearing House. He was Chairman of
the Irish Railway Managers' Conference from 1864 until his death on 14 June
1899. He was appointed by the government as general investigator for the
Congested District Board for Connaught and was responsible for the construction
of the Balfour Lines. He was well-known in Ulster literary circles as an
interpreter of Shakespeare. He features as a character in Delina Delaney
by Mrs Amanda McKittrick as The Father of Steam Enterprise.
Currie Northern Counties Vol.
1.
Cowie, James
Joined the B&NCR in 1869 as an apprentice in the Manager's Office.
In 1885 he became Cotton's Princioal Assistant, but lacked Cotton's sparkle.
Currie Northern Counties Vol.
1.
Cox, Edwin Charles
Born 3 January 1868. Son of a South Eastern Railway railwayman: joined
railway in 1883. Became Superintendent of the Line of SECR in 1911. Greatly
assisted in successful operation of WW1 traffic. Chief Operating Superintendent
of Southern Railway where he chaired electrification steering committee.
Traffic Manager Southern Railway 1930-36. Lt. Col. in Engineer and Railway
Staff Corps. Founder member of Institute of Transport. Died 9 December
1958.. See SR 150 and Who
Was Who. See also Jeffrey Wells: 'Actively
Engaged in Public Service', Backtrack, 2008, 22, 360 (includes
portrait).
Crawshay, Richard
Born in Normanton, Yorkshire, in 1739. Family tradition indicates
that a bitter quarrel with his father led to Richard leaving for London when
aged sixteen.. He apprenticed himself to a Thames Street ironware merchant
named Bicklewith. Crawshay's career was an exercise in self-improvement in
the classic Smilesian mould, being the subject of an encomium in Samuel Smiles's
Lives of the Engineers (18612). By 1763 Crawshay was in sole
possession of Bicklewith's business. wharfs and warehouses, before settling
at George Yard, Upper Thames Street, which was to be the London base of the
Crawshay family firm until 1864. By the 1780s Crawshay was probably London's
leading iron merchant. However, his pre-eminence in the capital was not enough.
He was attracted to becoming an ironmaster in his own right: in 1786 Anthony
Bacon, master of the Cyfarthfa ironworks at Merthyr Tudful, died. Crawshay
had been in partnership with him as a supplier of guns to the Board of Ordnance
during the American War of Independence. The guns had been cast at Cyfarthfa
and he leased Cyfarthfa from Bacon's estate and devoted an increasing amount
of his time to the development of the works. By 1793 Crawshay claimed to
have laid out £50,000 on new plant at Cyfarthfa. He did so with effect.
A survey of pig iron production in 1796 identified Cyfarthfa as by far the
largest ironworks in Britain, casting 7204 tons when average output per works
was a mere 1562 tons. The expansion of smelting was more than matched by
a massive growth in forge capacity at Cyfarthfa. Indeed, it was in the field
of iron refining that Crawshay made his most signal contribution to the British
iron trade. He was the sponsor of the ‘iron puddling’
technique of Henry Cort, pioneered as a commercially viable process at his
works in the late 1780s and which revolutionized the production of malleable
bar iron in Britain. Cyfarthfa attracted industrialists and technologists
from across the world. Crawshay died on 27 June 1810 and was buried at Llandaff
Cathedral, attended by vast crowds from Merthyr.
ODNB biography by Chris Evans
Crawshay, William
Born in 1764: ironmaster and merchant, the only son, of Richard Crawshay.
Little known of Crawshay's early life and education, only that he joined
his father's business as a young man. It was the beginning of a tempestuous
career. Like his father, William Crawshay was a masterful character and he
found it difficult to work under his father and this led to repeated
estrangements. Increasingly, William Crawshay was entrusted with running
the firm's merchant house in London, while his father remained at Cyfarthfa.
A fresh quarrel in 1809 led to the old man's revising his will. William Crawshay
was replaced as his father's executor and residuary legatee by
Benjamin Hall. and would have been left without a share
in the ironworks, but for a belated reconciliation through which he acquired
a three-eighths share in the Cyfarthfa works. For much of the next decade
Crawshay strove to reverse this humiliation and make himself the undisputed
master of Cyfarthfa. The Cyfarthfa ironworks was the largest in Britain,
producing 24,200 tons of pig iron from eight blast furnaces in 1823, yet
the functioning of the Crawshay firm was far from smooth. He tested the Gurney
engine adapted for travel on a tramway and was very impressed by its watertube
boiler. William Crawshay, the Iron King, died on 11 August 1834 at his suburban
mansion at Stoke Newington, Middlesex. ODNB
biography by Chris Evans also E.A. Forward. Gurney's railway locomotives.
Trans. Newcomen Soc., 1921,
2, 127.
Dalziel, Davison
Born in London on 17 October 1854; died 18 April 1928. Came from
Northumbrian family, hence Lord Wooler. Newspaper proprietor and financier
(The Standard and Evening Standard). Became a journalist in New South Wales
on the Sydney Echo and in the USA. Introduced taxis to London..Chairman of
Pullman Car Co. from 1915. President of Board and General Manger of International
Sleeping Car Co. from 1919. Owned Thomas Cook. MP for Lambeth 1910-1927.
ODNB entry by A.E. Watkin revised by Chandrika
Paul.
Darbyshire, George Lional.
Born 30 May 1883 in Manchester. Darbyshire had been the last (acting)
President of the LMS and became the Chief Regional Officer of the London
Midland Region. His expertise lay mainly in labour and establishment matters,
where the LMS had a larger and perhaps more bureaucratic organisation than
any other of the four main lines. His term was not long, since he retired
in February 1951. Accompanied Princess Elizabeth on visit to Wolverton Works
in 1948: Locomotive Mag.,
54, 54. As a CRO he supported his colleagues well, but at this
time Euston needed a stronger hand at the helm as noted in
Bonavia's British Rail: the first
25 years.
Davies, Ashton
Born in 1874. Joined LYR telegraph department in 1890. Attended lectures
on railway economics at Manchester University and obtained a scholarship.
Involved in train control. Lectured at school of signalling. General
Superintendent Northern Division LMS. Chief Comercial Manager 1932-8. Vice
President from 1938-1944. Awarded CVO in 1939. Noted in account of Institute
of Transport Congress response to Bilbrough's call for a National Transport
Board. (Locomotive Mag., 1929,
45, 208). Marshall noted
that he was an "approchable, cheerful and friendly man." Died 1 February
1958. Marshall Lancashire &
Yorkshire Railway. V. 2 and Who Was
Who. Terry Jenkins Sir Ernest
Lemon paints a different picture of a man determined to retain and
acquire additional powers. Pearson Man
of the rail (p. 94): wrote that Ashton Davies C.V.O., O.B.E, a
vice-president, retired after 54 years of railway service; and so departed
one of the most colourful of senior officers of the railways in this country.
He is still talked about with affection by those who were in the service
in his time. I was pleased when he wrote me a characteristically generous
letter in January, 1948, from his home in St. Annes-on-Sea on my appointment
at the Railway Executive. Retirement 31 August 1944:
Locomotive
Mag, 50, 139.
Mike Fenton relates how Ashton Davies was tasked with implementing the LMS
caravan coach scheme from 29 March 1934.
Backtrack, 2022, 36, 270,
Davies, David
Born at Llandinam, Montgomeryshire on 18 Decemeber 1818. Came from
a Calvinist Methodist background. Worked as a sawyer, but became involved
in railway building mainly for the constituent companies of the Cambrian
Railways in association with Thomas Savin. He was a
contractor to the Pembroke & Tenby and Manchester & Milford Railways,
but got into coal mining before the collapse of railway activity following
the Mania. Following his involvement in Ocean Collieries he became the leading
figure in the development of the Barry Railway. He died in Llandinam on 20
July 1890 (Marshall).. See Ivor
Thomas: The Sawyer: a biography of David Davies of Llandinam (Carmarthen
,1988) and Herbert Williams Davies the Ocean: railway king and coal
tycoon. Cardiff, 1991. He gave financial backing to
James Metcalfe, inventor of the exhaust steam
injector: hence Davies &
Metcalfe. After his death his son Edward
took his place.:
Metcalfe, Richard.
Davies & Metcalfe Ltd: railway engineers to the
world. 1999. "Davies was a rugged, frugal, self-made
capitalist, a relentless business competitor, who remained close to his chapel
roots. Severely puritanical and sabbatarian in outlook, he also had a great
fund of homely anecdotes about village mores, in both Welsh and English.
He was a public-spirited philanthropist, and was perhaps the most influential
Welshman of his time". Kenneth O. Morgan
(ODNB).
Covick, Owen. R.W. Perks and the Barry
Railway Company, Part 1: to early-1887. J. Rly Canal Hist. Soc., 2008,
36, 71-83 Kenneth O Morgan biography
in ODNB who notes that only son Edward died in 1898. Identical statues
at Barry Docks and at Llandinam see Humm
J. Rly Canal Hist. Soc.,, 2015, 38, 252...
Denison dynasty
Not in
Marshall: problem is the diversity of names: Beckett and
Grimthorpe (baronetcy). Michael Harris contributed an excellent biographical
sketch in the Oxford Companion
at Denison, Edmund Beckett (1836-1905). He was the parliamentary counsel
for the Great Northern Railway in its fight to establish itself. His father
Edmund Denison was the company's first Chairman and he was born at Gledlow
Halll near Leeds on 29 January 1787 and died in Doncaster on 24 May 1874
(and is in the ODNB with an entry
by Iain McLean). Presumably this brusque Yorkshire family must delight in
baffling searchers in the ODNB.
Nock, O.S. Railway enthusuast's
encyclopedia.
Denniss,
Charles Sherwood
Born in 1860, son of Goods Manager, North Eastern Railway Hull. Denniss
joined the NER at Hull under his father. He served on both the NER and GWR
until he became Superintendent of the Central Division of the NER in 1892
until becoming General Manager, Cambrian Railways in 1895. Died on 8 December
1917 (Who Was Who)..
portrait: C.C. Green's Cambrian
Railways p. 58
See G.A. Sekon. Rly Mag
3 313-28. Further comment on Denniss's character in correspondence
relating to Welshampton accident: see J. Rly Canal Hist. Soc., 2011
(211) letters from Peter Johnson
and R. Maund
Dent, Charles Bayley Calmady
Born in Holyhead in 1832; died in 1894. Rose to rank of Admiral in
Royal Navy and was Marine Superintendent of the LNWR: his second son Francis
had a very distinguished railway career
Dent, Charles Hastings
Son of Admiral Dent (above) born in 1860. Premium pupil of Francis
Webb. Joined Running Department and put in charge of sheds and workshops
at Preston. In 1892 he moved to the District Superintendent's office in Liverpool
and in 1899 became Superintendent of the Northern Division. In 1903 he became
General Manager of the Great Southern Railway and iin 1913 General Manager
of the Great Northern Railway. Member of Railway Executive Committee
during WW1. Grant Culllen. NBRSG
Journal, 2020 (141), 25. He was a Trustee of the Railway Benevelopment
Instititution and was Chairman of the Railway Manager's Conference of the
Railway Clearing House. Dawn Smith.&
Railway Diary
Dent, [Sir] Francis
Born 31 December 1866, son of Admiral C.B.C. Dent.
Joined LNWR in 1884. By 1901 he had become District Traffic Manager. He joined
the SECR as Chief Goods Manager in 1907 and was General Manager from 1911-20:
but resigned in 1920 due to disagreement with Chairman Cosmo Bonsor.
(Bonavia History of the Southern
Railway) who described him as an "autocratic and somewhat difficult
character". Member of Railway Executive Committee during WW1.
Grant Culllen. NBRSG Journal,
2020 (141), 25. Unusually he merits an
ODNB entry (by Chrisopher Phillips which his father fails to
make).
Dent oversaw the work of identifying, organizing and employing thousands
of skilled Belgian railwaymen from among the 250,000 refugees estimated to
have fled to Britain, and from April 1915 onwards was responsible for
interviewing suitable applicants for commissions in the Railway Operating
Division. His contribution was officially recognized with the receipt of
the Légion d'honneur in 1915. Knighted in January 1916, he was chosen
by Sir Eric Geddes to investigate the army's railway organization in Egypt
and Salonika. When America entered the war, its military authorities also
sought his advice on the most effective means of evacuation for wounded troops
from the battlefield. In 1918 Dent was elected chairman of the Railway Clearing
House General Managers' Conference by his peers. After the war Dent became
a member of the advisory committee on railway subjects at the London School
of Economics (LSE), and a council member of the newly formed Institute of
Transport. In April 1920 his wife died and he resigned as general manager
of the SECR, ending his full-time professional career. However, he continued
to play a role in the formation of railway policy, by visiting Austria as
president of the commission which reapportioned the rolling stock of the
former Austrian State Railways, and acting as director of the Southern Railway.
In 1923 Dent married again. From March 1929 until January 1949 Dent was chairman
of the Railway Clearing House. His talents as a railway manager were widely
acknowledged within and outside the industry, and his contribution between
1914 and 1918 personified the importance of effective administrative practices
to the co-ordination of Britain's war effort. He died at his home, Warblington
Lodge, Havant, Hampshire, on 4 June 1955.
D'Erlanger, Leo
Chairman of the Channel Tunnel
Company. Railway Wld,
1969, 30, 191
Deuchars, David
John Thomas (North British
vol.2) considers that Deuchars was a key figure in the
Aberdeen races. From being an outdoor assistant earning £550 per annum
he was promoted in November 1893 to be Superintendent of the Line earning
£1000 and this was increased to £1250 in February 1896 and £1500
in February 1898.
Docker, Frank Dudley
Born 26 August 1862 in Smethwick, died near Amersham on 8 July 1944.
Helped to reorganize the British heavy electrical industry and served as
a director of two of the railways which exploited electric traction: the
Metropolitan Railway and the LBSCR, and subsequently the Southern Railway.
Who Was Who and R.A.S. Hennessey
Dudley Docker Backtrack, 2008, 22, 164.
ODNB entry Richard Davenport-Hines. Also
highly involved with Metropolitan Carriage & Wagon Co.: brief obituary
Locomotive Mag., 1944,
50, 120. Dudley Docker: the life and times of a trade warrior
by R.P.T. Davenport-Hines. Cambridge University Press (available as e-book).
Robert Humm. Dudley Docker and the railways.
J. Rly Canal Hist. Soc., 2017
(230), 176-86
Douglas, John Montieth
Accountant and one term member of the NBR Board
(John Thomas): his
financial investigations at Cowlairs Works led to the resignation of
Thomas Wheatley and his brother.
Drummond, Brigadier-General Sir Hugh Henry
John
Born at Clovelly Court in Devon on 29 November 1859; died 1 August
1924. First Chairman of Southern Railway: he had becomre involved with railways
ovr the opening of the branch to Budleigh Salterton: this led to him becoming
a a Director of LSWR in 1900 and Deputy Chairman from 1904.. He was a landowner
with a background in banking: Director of National Provincial and Union Bank
of England; Deputy Chairman, Alliance Assurance; Ended WW1 with rank of Honourary
Brigadier General. Created a baronet in 1922. Member, Royal Bodyguard of
Scotland. Who Was Who and
Bonavia History of the Southern
Railway.
Edmondson, Thomas
Born 30 June 1792 in Lancaster and died in Manchester on 22 June 1851.
Originator of the card railway ticket. Trained as a cabinet maker, but became
a clerk at Milton on Newcastle & Carlisle Railway where he invented card
ticket, but employer not interested so he took his idea to the Manchester
& Leeds Railway which adopted his idea. The tickets are still used on
most "preserved railways", such as the North Norfolk Railway.
Basics from Marshall. See also entry
by Michael Farr in Oxford Companion.
also in ODNB entry by G.J. Holyoake,
revised by Philip S. Bagwell. Michael Farr, David Geldard and John Tilly.
150 years of the Edmondson ticket.
Railway World, 1988, 49, 232 which notes GB Patent 8538/1840
for printing/numbering machine.
Edwards, Charles Lewis
Died 11 May 1928; born Winchester in March, 1865. Entered the service
of the L. & S.W. Ry. in 1881; was appointed accountant to the North West
Argentine Ry., Tucuman, March, 1890; appointed accountant to the Buenos Aires
and Rosario Ry., July, 1895, and upon amalgamation of that company with the
Central Argentine Ry. was appointed chief accountant in July, 1902; was appointed
chief accountant of the Great Northern Ry., England, March, 1903. He was
appointed chief accountant of the L. & N.E. Ry upon its formation. He
was a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries and Incorporated Society
of Accountants and Auditors, Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, and
of the Royal Horticultural Society; a Freeman of the City of London, and
a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Turners, was Chairman of the Accountants
Standing Committee and of the Railway Clearing House from 1913 to 1920 and
1925 onwards, and Chairman of the Finance Committee of the Railway Benevolent
Institution, a post which he has occupied since 1922. CBE obituary
in Locomotive Mag., 1928, 34,
203 states was much interested in locomotive matters. Who Was
Who notes prominent Freemason,
Elliot, John
Born John Elliot Blumenfeld in London on 6 May 1898. Educated Marlborough
College and Royal Military College Sandhurst, but opted for a career in
journalism. Like Dow and Barrie, Elliot became a railway manager following
work in public relations, although Sir Herbert Walker had recruited him as
an aide. Bonavia: Railways
South East, 1993, 3, 182 states that he was
unusual for railway management by being part Jewish and having been a journalist.
Appointment as Chairman Railway Executive see
Locomotive Mag., 1951,
57, 32. He eventually became Chief Regional Officer of the London
Midland Region. Chairman of London Transport 1953-67 where Akehurst
(Backtrack, 2023, 37,
61) notes that he failed to resolvve a long lasting bus strike in 1954.
Chairman of Thomas Cook 1953-67. Died in London on 18 September 1988.
Author of autobiography: On and off the
rails: reviewed in Rly
Wld, 1982, 43, 541 (Esau
listed as joint author). ODNB entry by
C.S. Nicholls. Obituary notice by Julian Morel
(Rly Wld, 1988, 49,
729) noted his support for the Pullman services and improvements in services
to France. Foreword to Railway
Executive. Unification of British Railways: administrative principles
and practice. London: Modern Transport. 1951...
Fay, [Sir Samuel] Sam
Born Southampton 30 December 1856. Educated Blenheim House School
Fareham. Entered LSWR as a clerk in 1872. Was Chief Clerk at Waterloo by
1884. In spring 1892 he became General Manager of the M&SWJR and General
Manager of the GCR from March 1902. Director General of War Transport duing
WW1. Member of Railway Executive Committee during WW1
(Culllen. NBRSG Journal, 2020
(141), 25). Died Romsey 30 May 1953.
See Marshall.
ODNB entry by George Dow revised by
Ralph Harrington. which notes that Fay had a "magnetic personality"
Books where Fay was author
A Royal road: being the history of the London & South
Western Railway from 1825 to the present time. Kingston-on-Thames.
1882. Ottley 6608
The War Office at war. London: Hutchinson, 1937. Ottley 516
Biographies
John Neville Greaves. Sir Sam Fay. Book Guild. receives an extensive
review in Backtrack, 2018,
32, 637.
The Managership of the Great Central
Railway. Rly Mag., 1902, 10, 23-5.
Biography by Jack Simmons: Dictionary of Business
Biography
Nock, O.S. Railway enthusuast's
encyclopedia
Fielden, Edward Brocklehurst
Born 10 June 1857 (Wikipedia 2011); died 31 March 1942 (Who Was
Who). Chairman Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway from 1919. Conservative
MP Middleton Div. of Lancashire, 190006, Exchange Division, Manchester,
192435. One of two Deputy Chairman on LMS.
Fiennes, Gerard (Gerry) Francis
Full name Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes. Born 7 June 1906. Died 25 May
1985. Educated Winchester and Oxford. (Who was Who) Joined LNER in
1928 as a traffic apprentice and rose to Board level on British Railways:
Chairman Western Region, then Eastern Region. His I tried to run a
railway is a classic. David St. John Thomas encountered his widow Jean
in Journey through
Britain. (page 489)..
Fiennes on rails. David & Charles. 1986. 190pp.
Reviewed Railway Wld,
1987 , 48, 145.
I tried to run a railway. London: Ian Allan, 1967.
Reviewed by MJ in
Railway Wld., 1967,
28, 504
Recollections of some lesser LNER locomotives. in
Hughes, Geoffrey. A
Gresley anthology. Didcot: Wild Swan/Gresley Society, 1994. pp.
67-70.
As perceived by the Assistant Yard Master at Whitemoor in 1931. The
O2s were the most powerful locomotives, but these were limited southwards
to working to Temple Mills. There were difficulties in getting enough work
out of these locomotives, although the speed was greatly increased when March
Town was playing at home. The J39 class was regarded excellent, although
prone to rolling. Eventually K3 class locomotives were acquired for the Norwich
to Whitemoor workings
Peter Townend. LNER Pacifics
remembered: Chapter 17
Fisher, S.H.
Joined London and North Western Railway service in March, 1904, and
after obtaining experience at a number of goods and passenger stations, and
in the Northampton and Liverpool Goods Managers' Offices and the Swansea
District Traffic Superintendent's Office, was appointed Outdoor Assistant
to the Superintendent of the Line in 1910. In November, 1912, he was appointed
Assistant to the District Superintendent at Euston for the Southern District
of the LNWR and in May, 1919, made Assistant District Superintendent at Liverpool
for the Northern District. In March, 1922, the Crewe District Goods Manager's
District was converted into a Traffic Superintendent's District, and Mr.
Fisher was appointed the District Traffic Superintendent there, retaining
that position in the following year, when the LNWR was merged in the London
Midland and Scottish Railway. In March, 1925, he was appointed Operating
Assistant at Crewe to the Chief General Superintendent. In 1929 he became
Divisional Superintendent of Operation, Derby, and as from January, 1932,
was appointed Operating Assistant to Chief General Superintendent, Derby.
Paper presented to Institute of
Transport. Locomotive Mag., 1939,
45, 1. , Became Chief Operating Manager, LMS, when Royle became
a Vice President in 1944: (Grace's Guide) he had formerly been Deputy.
Locomotive
Mag, 50, 139.
Follows, John Henry
Follows was born in 1869 and was educated at Risley Grammar School.
He joined the Midland Railway in 1890. He was Superintendent of Freight Trains
from 1911-1912; Divisional Superintendent from 1912 to 1914; Superintendent
of Operations from 1914 to 1917; Acting General Superintendent from 1917
to 1919; General Superintendent in 1919 and was a Vice President on the LMS
between 1927 and 1932, He died on 13 December 1938. (Who Was
Who).Hamilton Ellis (The Midland
Railway) noted that "Centralised traffic control became the monument
of J.H. Follows. For a long time there was on the Midland and on the LMS
a lesser and rather quaint monument, the saloon carriage in which he made
his travelling headquarters when out on the road, converted, as previously
stated, from one of the Heysham rail motors. Follows was of rather an ascetic
type, immaculate and perhaps a puritan. His saloon contained a grim white
enamelled bath, served by a severely solitary cold tap. Nearly all the windows,
right along the carriage, were of obscured glass. Whether this was to help
him to concentrate, or to prevent lesser persons from being too awed by the
daunting sight of the great man at work, has never been explained. Control
not only made for smooth working and punctuality under normal conditions,
it saved many difficult situations when things went wrong.". Several references
to him in Terry Jenkins' Sir Ernest
Lemon. In centre of group photograph of mutual improvement secretaries
at Derby in 1921. Locomotive Mag.,
1922, 28, 57.
Forbes, Henry
An Ulsterman with revolver at hand. Began his career on the GNR(I):
sent to Stranolar as Secretary in 1910
(Locomotive Mag., 1910,
16, 153) to reorganize narrow-gauge CDJR. Introduced halts, railcars
based on buses and kept the railway running. General Manager from? Died 7
November 1943 (or possibly 1941). Need to check in Patterson
(info pro tem from
Hendry). Succeeded by Bernard Curran.
Forbes, James Staats
Born in Aberdeen on 7 March 1823. Educated as an engineer at Woolwich
and from 1840 under Brunel. Joined GWR as booking clerk at Paddington, and
was goods superintendent at Gloucester between 1855 and 1857. Became General
Manager of the Dutch Rhenish Railway, and took up same position on LCDR from
April 1861, and Chairman from 1874 (having joined board in 1871) where he
was involved in bitter competition with SER under
Watkin. Resigned from this post in 1886, but remained
a director until 1897. At time of
Railway Magazine Illustrated
Interview, 2, 481 he was also Chairman of Edison & Swan Electric
Light Co., President of the National Telephone Co and a Director of Lion
Fire Insurance. Director of Metropolitan District, Chairman of the North
Metropolitan & DN&SR, and on Board of Hull, Barnsley & West Riding
Co. Notable art collector. Died in 5 April 1904.
Uncle of Stanhope Forbes (artist)
Excellent ODNB entry by Charles Welch, rev.
Ralph Harrington, also T.R. Gourvish in Dictionary of Business Biography
M.A.C. Horne. London's District
Railway. Volumes 1 & 2.
Forbes, William
Appointed General Manager of the LBSCR in 1899 when he was aged 42.
Father, who died in 1888, had been a District Superintendent on GNR. Nephew
of famous James Staats Forbes. William Forbes joined the LCDR in 1873 and
was appointed Continental Manager in 1886 and Traffic Manager in 1888. Appointed
Assistant General Manager following operating agreement with SER.
Rly. Mag.., 1899, 5, 17..
Bonavia's History of the Southern
Railway shows that he was athorn in the side of Walker in the first
year of grouping.
Gibb, [Sir] George Stegmann
Born in Aberdeen on 30 April 1850 and died in Wimbledon on 14 December
1925. (Marshall). Educated Aberdeen Grammar
School and London University. Joined GWR as a solicitor in 1877. Following
some work in private practice he became solicitor to the NER and was appointed
General Manager of the North Eastern Railway in 1891 and joined the Board
of that Company in 1906. Nock succinctly
observed that George Gibb was a dynamic and truly great railwayman whose
invigorating leadership brought a big programme of improvements including
accelerations, new works and internal reforms. On 3 January 1906 he was appointed
Deputy Chairman and Managing Director of the Underground Electric Railway
Co. He was knighted in 1904. Unusually, the Illustrated Interview in the
Railway Magazine (1, 491)
gives no personal biographical information.
Very thorough ODNB entry by R.J. Irving
M.A.C. Horne. London's District Railway.
Volume 2.
Gillingwater, H.R.
Superintendent of the line on the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway.
Formerly with LDECR. Locomotive
Mag., 1907, 13, 84.
Glyn, Sir Ralph
1885-1960. MP for Clackmannan & East Stirlingshire, 1918-22, then
Abingdon 1924-53. Director of LMS. See
Burgess: A tour of inspection... LMS Journal, 2007 (18), 75..
Gooday, John Frances Sykes
Gooday was General Manager of the GER from 1899 to 1910. According
to Allen he was a "forcible character".
He had joined the railway at 16 as a junior clerk on a salary of five shillings
per week in 1863: this was in the Leeds office of the GER. By 1877 he had
become Assistant Continental Manager, and in 1880, Continental Manager. In
1899 he became General Manager of the LB&SCR
(see Illustrated Interview of Sarle, Rly
Mag, 2, 1), but returned to the GER as GM in the same year
in succession to Sir William Birt. Gooday was closely involved in the the
GCR/GER/GNR amalgamation proposal which was rejected by Parliament. He joined
the Board in 1910. He was succeeded by Hyde. Died 18
January 1915 (Who was Who)..
Gore Browne, Eric
Born 2 October 1885. Died 28 May 1964. Educated Malvern and Oxford.
Banker. Controller of Rubber 1943-44. (Who was Who) Last Chairman
of the Southern Railway. Strongly antagonistic to nationalization: "once
eggs are scrambled. I defy any cook to unscramble them":
Hendry notes his stance, but adds nothing
further. Sean Day-Lewis Bulleid: last giant
of steam (page 129) called him a keen-eyed banker.
Grand, Keith Walter Chamberlsin
Born 3 July 1900.. Died 17 September 1983. Educated at Rugby. (Who
was Who) Bonavia's British Rail
the first 25 years gives but a glimpse of the Western Region's first
Chief Regional Officer. He noted that he had been the Great Western's
representative in New York (1928-9) where he developed a cosmopolitan outlook
and a broad grasp of railway commercial activity. Cox
(Locomotive panorama V. 2) stated that the diesel hydraulic
locomotives were a part of Grand's determination to retain a separate identity
for the Western. Pictured at Deltic roll-out
Loco. Mag., 1955, 61, 190
Granet, William Guy
He was born on 13 October 1867 and educated at Rugby and Balliol College.
He became a barrister in 1893 (Lincoln's Inn) and married the daughter of
Lord Selby, Speaker of the House of Commons in 1892. He became Secretary
of the Railway Companies' Association in 1900 and Assistant to the General
Manager of the MR in 1905 and its General Manager in 1906. His interests
included traffic control and industrial relations (he was secretary to the
Employers' Committee during the general railway strike of 1907. He was a
member of the Railway Executive Committee during WW1.
Grant Culllen. NBRSG Journal,
2020 (141), 25. He joined the Board of the Midland Railway in 1918 and
became its Chairman in 1922. He died at his home, Burleigh Court in
Gloucestershire on 11 October 1943..
"That wily old lawyer Sir William Guy Granet, sometime Dictator of
the Midland" (in the words of the late Hamilton Ellis) would have
outmanoeuvred Machiavelli himself. Nock wrote "Step by step, inexorably he
virtually dictated the terms of the amalgamation and, although he did not
become either chairman or deputy chairman of the new company, he dominated
the proceedings of the board... The result was that the Midland precepts
of management were adopted... Seventeen years earlier Granet had completely
overthrown the traditional form of railway organisation which had prevailed
on the Midland as firmly as on all the other large railways of Great Britain
and now it was the turn of the other constituents of the LMS to experience
what the Midland had passed through from 1906 onward."
Rutherford notes
that Granet was undoubtedly one of those who wished to reduce the status,
power (and salaries) of the idiosyncratic Victorian locomotive superintendents.
He may well have arrived at that view (or received it from others and promulgated
it further) whilst he was Secretary of the Railway Companies' Association
early in the new century. Certainly once he [Granet] became General Manager
of the Midland Railway, R.M. Deeley's attempts
to introduce appropriate modern locomotive powereight-coupled engines
for freight and four-cylinder de Glehn compound 4-6-0s for 'crack' expresses
got nowhere and Deeley left in 1909. He was replaced by
Henry Fowler, a man of wide interests but not the
design of locomotives, although he was interested in details such as the
application of superheating or the metallurgy of boiler stays. The concept
of 'the dead hand of Derby' in locomotive matters can be traced back to these
events.
Granet was once asked what type of man made the ideal leader and he
replied "The benevolent despot". He got his man in the person of
Lord Stamp (a director of ICI) who took
up the post of President in January 1926.
H. G. Burgess, the last General Manager, retired in March 1927 and
Granet himself resigned in October and moved to the City.
Biography by Henry Parris Dictionary of Business Biography.
ODNB biography by Harold Hartley; revised
by Mark Pottle.
Grey, Sir Edward
Born in London on 25 April 1862. Educated at Winchester College and
Balliol College Oxford. Traditional biography in
ODNB by Keith Robbins. More interesting
biography in letter by Alan Donaldson
in Rly Arch., 2008 (21), 26. He was Foreign Secretary in Asquith's
Liberal administration of 1906 and is best known for his alleged statement
that "the lights are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit
again in our lifetime" as Europe slid into WW1. He was a Director of the
NER and Chairman from 1906 until his appointment as Foreign Secretary. The
family estate enjoyed its own station at Fallodon in Northumberland, and
he was clearly a great lover of trains as well as of natural history. He
was a devout Anglican and worshiped at Embleton parish church. He died on
7 September 1933. He was created a Viscount in 1916..
Neil Mackay. Fallodon station, Viscount
Grey and the memorial beech tree Backtrack, 2023, 37,
395.
Grierson, James
Born in 1830 was made General Manager of the GWR in 1866. Died on
7 October 1887: "He had been an able, tactful and popular Manager. He had
drawn up a "long and deatiled report" on the final conversion of the broad
gauge. He appears to have championed the carriage of third class passengers
on express trains. McDermot History
of the Great Western Railway rev. Clinker.
Guest, (Sir Josiah) John
Born in Dowlais on 2 February 1785, the eldest child of Thomas Guest,
manager and part owner of Dowlais ironworks. John followed his father into
the business in 1807. Due to the rise of the railway industry the Ironworks
became the largest in the world and Guest attempted to keep up todate with
the latest techniques. He became the first chairman of the Taff Vale Railway
Company which was noted for its huge profitability gained through the haulage
of coal for export. In 1846 Canford Manor in Dorset was acquired. He died
on 26 November 1852. The name survived in Guest, Keen & Nettlefolds (GKN).
Angela V. John in ODNB..
D.S. Barrie The Taff Vale
Railway.
Hall, Benjamin
There were three generations of Benjamin Hall who influenced the
construction of canals and their associated tramroads in Monmouthshire. These
were Dr Benjamin Hall (born 3 June 1742, died 25 October 1817), Chancellor
of the Diocese of Llandaff and father of Benjamin Hall, born in Llandaff
on 29 October 1778 and died on 19 August 1817. He married Charlotte, daughter
of Richard Crawshay of Cyfartha on 16 December 1801 and came into the possession
of the Abercarn Estate in 1808. He in turn was the father of Benjamin Hall
born on 8 December 1802 and died on 27 April 1867. He was created a Baronet
on 12 August 1838 and eventually Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire in 1861
Big Ben (Palace of Westminster) is named after him and he rejoices in an
ODNB biography by G.F.R. Barker, revised by H.C.G. Matthew.
See Archive, 2007 (55)
26.
Hambro, Charles Jocelyn
Born 3 October 1897 in London. Merchant banker: partner in C.J. Hambro
& Son: the family originated in Denmark. Educated at Eton and Sandhurst.
Served WW1 in Coldstream Guards where he won Military Cross on Western Front.
In WW2 he served with Special Operations Executive and was involved in sabotage
of heavy water plant in Norway. He was knighted for this activity. He had
been a Director of the GWR since 1928, was Deputy Chairman from 1934 and
Chairman between 1940 and 1945. He died on 28 August 1963.
ODNB biography by M.R.D. Foot which only
contains one discordant note by claiming the GWR was "the most successful
of the four great British Railway companies".
Hamilton, Claud (Lord )
Born on 20 February 1843; died 26 January 1925. Educated at Harrow
School. Member of Parliament (successively) for Londonderry; Kings Lynn,
Liverpool West Derby and Kensington South. Main interest was as a director
of the Great Eastern Railway from 1872; then vice chairman fom 1874 and chairman
from 1893 until 1922. The Claud Hamilton 4-4-0 class was noted for its speed
and reliability on Cromer to Liverpool Street expresses
Hardy, George
Started work at the engine shops in South Shieds of the York, Newcastle
& Berwick Railway and considered that the Stanhope & Tyne Railway
had been over engineered (Langham Early locomotives on the Stanhope &
Tyne Railway, Backtrack, 2019,
33, 588). Witness to Jarrow accident of 1846
Backtrack, 2021, 35, 452.
Manager of the Londonderry Railway. He had worked for the Marquis of Londonderry
for forty five years, and remained in his employ when the railway was taken
over by the NER in 1900. See Rly
Mag., 1901, 8, 70. Retired 1903
see Loco. Mag., 1903, 9,
40.
Harrison, Charles Augustus
Born in Vizianagram in India on 27 March 1848, the son of a bemedalled
army colonel. He was educated at Marlborough College and served his
pupilage under Robert Hodgson
Harrison, [Sir] Frederick
Born 1844. Died 31 December 1914 (Who was Who). General Manager,
London and North Western Railway and the subject of an early
Railway Magazine Illustrated
Interview. 1, 193-206. Argued that "The General Manager of a big
railway must be a practical man who has been "through the mill" to use a
familiar phrase, and you will find that we have all begun at the bottom of
the ladder". He entered the LNWR in 1864 when aged 20 as a clerk at Shrewsbury
under Sir George Findlay who took him to Euston when he became General Goods
Manager later in the same year. For three years he was in Liverpool as Assistant
District Superintendent, followed by one year at Chester in a similar capacity,
and was Assistant Superintendent of the Line and Chief Goods Manager at Euston
before becoming General Manager.
Hartley, Sir Harold Brewer
Hartley deserves better than being listed as the instrument used to
draw Stanier away from the Great Western to the LMS. Sir Harold was a scientist
of considerable stature and his recruitment onto the LMS may be seen as one
of Stamp's great positive decisions; obviously, the
recruitment of Stanier was another. Basic information obtained from [long]
biography by E.J. Bowen (revised by K.D. Watson) in
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography: born 3 September 1878; died 9 September 1972. Educated
Balliol: physical chemist. Biographer notes that "As a judge of character
Hartley was quick to distinguish the efficient from the inefficient". Author
of Studies in the history of chemistry (1971). It is noteworthy that
Hartley was the original biographer of Ernest
Lemon in the ODNB. He was also the original ODNB biographer of several
other people, notably Guy Granet, several scientists and a musician killed
during WW1.
Bond noted "an Oxford Don from Balliol and
a Fellow of the Royal Society who, as a Brigadier-General, had been Director
of Chemical Warfare during the Great War. Sir Harold, who in later years
I came to know well, was a man of abounding energy, whose wisdom, experience,
and an indomitable spirit which refused to be daunted by a crippling physical
disability, enabled him to exert a powerful influence over affairs of national
importance in science and the engineering profession right up to the time
of his death at the advanced age of 94 years.".
See also LMS Journal, 17, 37
on Scientific Research Department (article includes fine portrait)
A.J. Pearson Man of the rail
(page 46): He was first and foremost very much a Balliol man. At
the railway, which he joined when he was over fifty, he got through a tremendous
amount of work, and his outside interests ranged widely. But he was always
moderate, and his career with the railway was steady and industrious. He
was a charming host; and he admired Stamp greatly.
Langridge: (p. 135) note possibly
says more about Langridge than his subject: "Stamp's choice was, of course,
Sir Harold Hartley; Oxford Don, late Chemical Warfare Chief, FRS. The appointer
of Kenneth Clark as Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum ; a truly catholic
set of interests but not an engineer. Naturally, a Don would have
to have to do with that blessed word 'Research'"
Papers (relevant to steamindex): William Arthur Stanier, 1876-1965.
Biogr. Mem. Fellows R. Soc., 1966, 12, 489-502. illus. (port).
bibliog.
Henderson, Alexander
Henderson was born on 28 September 1850, the second child of George
and Eliza Henderson. He tended to become involved in business interests with
his younger brothers Henry (Harry) and Brodie. When 17 he entered the City
firm of Deloittes who were Accountants to the GWR. He moved to the stockbroker
firmm of Eyton, Greenwood & Eyton and became a member of the Stock Exchange
when 22. In 1874 he married Jane Davis who bore him 7 children, including
6 sons. He, and his brothers developed business interests in Latin America,
especially successful of which were those in the Buenos Aires & Great
Southern Railway where the Government guaranteed a 7% dividend.
In 1888 he became a director of the Manchester Ship Canal, and
subsequently helped to bail out Barings Bank. Thus he came to the attention
of the MSLR Board which he was invited to join. He formed a syndicate with
£4m capital to underwrite the London extension. Amongst his achievements
with the GCR was the brilliant acquisition of Sam Fay from the LSWR, probably
Robinson as Locomotive Superintendent, and Dixon Davies as Solicitor. He
entered politics as Liberal-Unionist MP for West Staffordshire (between 1906
and 1913, and then briefly as MP for St George's Hanover Square until raised
to the peerage, as Lord Faringdon, in 1916 he had been knighted in
1902. He was involved in acquiring the LD&ECR and in developing Immingham
Docks. He was involved in merger proposals with the GNR, and later GER, but
these were thrown out by Parliament. He resisted negotiating with the trade
unions. At the grouping the GCR Board presented him with a portrait by Sir
William Orpen which is kept at Buscot. He died in 1934 whilst still Deputy
Chairman of the LNER. Significantly, he was given special responsibility
for financial matters by the LNER's Board.
When 40 he purchased Buscot, Faringdon, for £80,000 where he
maintained his
collections
of fine books and paintings, especially those by the pre-Raphaelites:
Burcot
is now a National Trust property.
See Backtrack, 2001, 15,
707.
Backtrack, 2002, 16,
174. letter by Bloxsom
Backtrack, 1996, 10, 266
He is not listed in the Oxford Companion, nor is he given adequate
coverage in the gloss about the Great Central by Andrew Dow, but Martin Daunton
in his Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography does it make it very clear that the Great Central Railway
was only a minor element in his vast financial interests, many of which were
in South America.
Hodgson, Richard
Richard Hodgson (1812-1877) of Carham Hall, Coldstream, was
Chairman of the North British Railway from 1855 until 1866. He was responsible
for introducing ruthless business methods in association with the General
Manager, Thomas Rowbotham, and the possibly unfortunate William Hurst, Locomotive
Superintendent. This led to a major financial scandal whereby the Scottish
Wagon Company provided the NBR with rolling stock on a deferred payment basis
(unfortunately, Hodgson and his associates had substantial holdings in the
Wagon Co.). There is a suggestion that Hodgson may have also used a policy
of railway promotion and acquistion to provide the NBR with financial momentum
of the Hudson sort. The quest for lines in Northumberland, notably the Border
Counties Railway led to the NBR acquiring its own access to Newcastle, but
at the cost of permitting the NER running its trains into Edinburgh. Also
interested in developing Silloth in Cumberland later adopted name of Huntley
(Cattenach) see Joy, Backtrack,
2019, 31, 280. In part Dawn Smith.
Cattenach NBR Study Gp. J. 105,
page 11.
Holland-Martin, Robert
Born on 10 October 1872, died 27 January 1944: edcated at Eton and
Trinity College, Oxford. Became a Director of Martin's Bank in 1897 and was
Chairman from from 1925 to 1939. He was a director of the Agricultural Mortgage
Corporation and the Gas Light & Coke Co. He became a Director of the
London & South Western Railway in 1910, and continued to serve on the
Board of the Southern Railway, becoming Deputy Chairman in 1932 and Chairman
from 1935 until his death in 1944. (Reg
Davies LMS Journal, (21), 28. Family seat Overbury Court, Tewkesbury.
Sired several more famous children.
H.A.V. Bulleid called him "genial"
and argued that he was eager to update the Southern's steam locomotives and
passenger rolling stock. He died in 1944. Portrait (in extraordinary company
which included Stanier and Willie Wood) on plate 43 of Bulleid on Bulleid.
Sean Day-Lewis Bulleid: last giant of
steam (pp. 129-30) called him gentle and much-loved.
Bonavia notes that electrification
caused him much concern about the saety of children and animals and his eccentric
dressing, driving and general behaviour..
Holt, Oliver Stanbrooke
Born in Crumpsall, Manchester on 7 April 1855. Secretary Great Central
Railway. Retired in January 1918. Died in Kendal on 9 August 1930, but funeral
in Cheshire.
Homfray, Samuel
Ironmaster who was born on 16 February 1762 and died on 18 May 1822
and who arranged for Trevithick's locomotive to be run on his tramway. See
Lawrence Ince biography of Homfray family in
Oxford Dictionary of National
biography.
Hopkins, Charles P.
Bonavia (British Rail: the
first 25 years) noted that "the surprise appointment was in the North
Eastern Region", where Charles Hopkins became the youngest CRO. He was one
of the LNER's 'bright young men', his last post there being Assistant General
Manager (Traffic and Statistics). The creation of a North Eastern Region
had hung in the balance, the original idea being that all of the LNER in
England would form one Region. The LNER Magazine noted that Hopkins
hads been confirmed in the position of assistant general manager (Traffic
and Statistics). Hopkins won a Traffic Apprenticeship, having
gained the distinction in 1921, of being placed first in the first examination
arranged by the N.E.R. Developing a flair for traffic problems, he made a
speciality of wagon movement and control, but broadened his experience by
a spell of service at Liverpool Street with the Continental Traffic Manager,
and later as assistant to the superintendent (Eastern Section). He returned
to York to grapple with rolling-stock matters in 1941 and joined the chief
general manager's staff a year ater. Hopkins had charge of the Central Traffic
Office at Marylebone, and represented the LNER on the Operating Committee
of the R.E.C. Became General Manager of the Southern Region between 1955
and 1962
Gourvish
Horne, Robert Stevenson
Born at Slamannan, Stirlingshire, on 28 February 1871; died 3 September
1940. Educated at George Watson's College, Edinburgh, and the University
of Glasgow, where he studied Law. Horne then spent a year teaching philosophy
at the University College of North Wales, before being elected to the Faculty
of Advocates (Scottish Bar) in 1896. He became a successful advocate,
specialising in commercial and shipping cases and became a King's Counsel
in 1910. During WW1, Horne became Director of Railways on the Western Front
with the honorary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the Royal Engineers. In 1917
he joined the Admiralty as Assistant Inspector-General of Transportation,
becoming Director of Materials and Priority in 1918, and Director of Labour
and Third Civil Lord later the same year. Horne was elected as MP for Glasgow
Hillhead in 1918. He served under David Lloyd George as Minister of Labour
between 1919 and 1920, as President of the Board of Trade between 1920 and
1921 and as Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1921 and 1922. In 1937 he
was ennobled as Viscount Horne of Slamannan. Director and Chairman of Great
Western Railway. Also on board of Suez Canal Co. Wikipedia 18 May 2016
Howey, John Edwards Presgrave
Born on 17 November 1883 at Melford Grange near Woodbridge, Suffolk.
Died 8 September 1963. Creator, and for many years owner and operator of
the Romney Hythe & Dymchurch
Railway. To implement his ideas he was involved with
Bassett Lowke,
Henry Greenly and
Gresley. Wealth based on ownership of real
estate in centre of Melbourne, Australia. Educated at Eton and was a premium
apprentice at Vickers. See Snell's One
man's railway. See Holcroft's encounters
with him. A 15-inch gauge Bassett Lowke 4-4-2 John Anthony was
owned by him at Staughton Manor in 1914:
see Locomotive Mag., 1914,
20, 139. See also Robert Tyrrell (A rough trip on the RH&D)
in Railway World, 1978,
39, 368 which sghows that he was a tough boss.
Hudson, George (duplicate entry)
Born near York on 10 March 1800 and died in London on 14 December
1871. Subject of entry in Oxford Dictionary
of National Biography by Michael Reed.
Lambert,
R.S. The railway king, 1800-1971: a study of George
Hudson and the business morals of his times. 1934.
Beaumont, Robert. The Railway King - a biography of George
Hudson.
Review by Michael Rutherford noted "In the end, Beaumont seeks to
persuade us that Hudson's achievements outweigh his business practice
failings..."
Hill, Keith. On track to Westminster.
. Backtrack, 2003, 17, 523-6.
Writer eventually who became BR Board's Parliamentary Communications
Manager describes relationship between Members of Parliament and their interests
in railways. including adventures of George Hudson (portrait), MP for York
and much else besides for that City, are briefly outlined:
this section was the subject of fairly
sharp criticism from Christopher V. Awdry (letter page 715) on the
relationship between Hudson and his great uncle Matthew Bottrill who funded
some of Hudson's early schemes, but there was no insobriety in this relationship.
.
Nock, O.S. Railway enthusuast's
encyclopedia
Walker, Charles. George Hudson the Railway
King, Railway Wld, 1971,
32, 544-5.
Hudson's ambitions and achievements, recalled on the occaision of
the centenary of his death, this month [December 1971], are a reminder of
the ironies of history. Ends by noting that he was never prosecuted and supports
Hudson's claim that he was never dishonest. Notes that the Grouping realised
his ambition for two or three large railway companies
Huish, [Captain] Mark
Born in Nottingham on 9 March 1808. Died at Bonchurch on Isle of Wight
on 18 January 1867 (Gourvish ODNB). He
had joined the East India Company and on return from India in 1839 he became
Secretary & General Manager of the Glasgow, Paisley & Greenock Railway.
In 1841 he became Secretary & General Manager of the Grand Junction Railway.
From 1846 to 1858 he was General Manager of the LNWR, but resigned over policy
matters and was replaced by Cawkell,
when he retired to Bonchurch. Braine:
The railway Moon.. Rutherford
(Backtrack, 2009, 23, 462) quotes Gourvish: "[Huish's]
strong personality and close acquaintance with the intricacies of traffic
management enabled him... to exert a powerful influence over the councils
of his employers, and there were many instances of his dictating to the Board
and its several committees. The 'Euston Confederacy' a series of traffic
agreements aimed at securing traffic from competitors, was very much his
creation, and a startling answer to the difficulties facing the established
lines as a result of Parliament's sanction of duplicate
projects."
Paper
Railway accidents. Min. Proc
Instn civ. Engrs., 1851/2, 11, 434 (Paper 854).
1000 locomotive failures on LNWR involving 587 locomotives were
examined
See Oxford Companion short
biography by Terry Gourvish and full
biography based upon PhD Thesis.
Nock, O.S. Railway enthusuast's
encyclopedia
Humphreys-Owen, A.C.
Chairman Cambrian Railways:1900-
(Rly Mag., 1900, 7,
190)
Hurcomb, Cyril William
Born in Oxford on 18 February 1883. Died in Horsham on 7 August 1973?.
Educated at Oxford University and career civil servant. Director General
of Ministry of War Transport and made Chairman of British Transport Commission.
His relationship with the Railway Executive was fraught with problems as
related by Bonavia: The nationalisation
of British transport. Entry in Oxford
Companion by TG presumably Terry Gourvish
Max Nicholson contributed an ODNB biography,
from which the following has been extracted (it should be noted that Nicholson
regards Hurcomb's involvement with the BTC as a glitch in an otherwise brilliant
career.
Hurcomb's pallid complexion and worn appearance belied his toughness and stamina, just as his austere mien disguised his receptiveness as a listener and his great consideration for others. These, combined with his clarity of mind and tenacity of purpose, made him an outstanding negotiator. His manner was never ingratiating, but his arguments were fair and persuasive, winning respect if not always affection. Without being an expert on any subject he learned enough of a number to be taken seriously by experts, and to complement their expertise with his own wisdom
The letter which I [Bonavia] had drafted from Hurcomb to Missenden dated 13 April 1948 contained the following sentences:
It seems to me that the question of the future form of traction ; whether it is to be steam, electricity, Diesel-electric, Diesel-mechanical, or gas turbine is probably the most important long-term problem facing the railways to-day, and it is of course closely linked with the future price ratios and availability of the different fuels. . . .
A large main line electrification scheme [ex-LNER Manchester-Sheffield-Wath] is in progress. The Executive also have in hand proposals for prolonged technical trials of both Diesel-mechanical and gas turbine main line locomotives. But as regards Diesel-electric traction, there seems to be a disparity. We are still experimenting as though there were no large fund of technical knowledge and experience upon which to draw, and as though our engineers had not been studying the characteristics (as I assume they have been doing) of this form of traction for the past twenty years. Whilst American practice admittedly requires to be interpreted in the light of the smaller loads, shorter average length of haul, and more restricted loading gauge in this country, there should be no major technical questions which are quite unfamiliar.
Where our experience is lacking, is in the true level of maintenance and operating costs under British conditions, and the effects upon operating methods of turning over a complete group of services to diesel-electric traction. And only a large-scale experiment can give us the answer to these questions.
For this reason I was disappointed to read in Slim's letter of 23rd March that so limited an experiment as that now in hand in the London Midland Region is all that the Executive apparently contemplate at the moment.
You will remember that in the summer of 1947 the L.N.E.R. announced that they had prepared a scheme for the dieselisation of the Anglo-Scottish East Coast services, involving the construction of 25 single units in replacement of 32 "Pacific" type express passenger engines. Maintenance facilities were to be provided at London and Edinburgh, entirely separate from the steam locomotive facilities.
The Commission would, I think, like to know whether it is the fact that this scheme has now been shelved and whether the Executive have come to conclusions which differ radically from those which were formed by the L.N E.R. Board last year. I cannot help feeling, however, that until a major scheme of the kind has been put into operation, we shall not have sufficient actual experience of the capabilities and costs of Diesel-electric traction in relation to steam and other forms of traction.
When eventually the Executive replied, in the following December, it was merely to inform the Commission that a Committee on Types of Motive Power had been set up.
Mullay (Backtrack, 2017, 31, 537) completely alters this entry by recording that Hurcomb had been the civil servant architect of the 1923 Grouping. Mullay is critical of Hurcomb's lack of technical skill considering cab signalling and track circuits as rival safety systems. KPJ: In retrospect it is obvious that neither Hurcomb nor Missenden were capable of ttransferring the management skills inherited from four major companies into the new nationalised concern/s and that the railways suffered greatly from inept decisions, or lack of them, from Secretaties of State with very few exceptions
Hyde, Walter Henry
Hyde followed the succesful Gooday as General
Manager of the GER, but was forced to retire in 1914 aged only 50 due to
the takeover of the LTSR by the Midland Railway. Hyde had anticipated the
1912 National Coal Strike and stockpiled coal, notably at Whitemoor
(see Backtrack, 2016, 30,
564)
Inglis, Colin C.
Chief Research Officer, British Transport Commission. Appointed in
1952 whilst Martin Herbert was in charge of British Railways' Research
Department. Inglis joined the BTC from the Ministry of Supply Armament Design
Establishment: he was an electrical engineer. Encountered by
Roland C. Bond whilst both working on Ghats
electrification project in 1930. Inglis retired in summer of 1964..
Inglis, James Charles
Born in Aberdeen on 9 September 1851
(Marshall) and educated in the Grammar
School and at Aberdeen University where he took prizes in natural science
and mathematics. Following University, in 1870 he entered the shops of Norman,
Copland and Co., engineers and millwrights, Glasgow, where he stayed for
two years. On the advice of Alexander Kirk, M.I.C.E., of Glasgow, he left
Norman's and became a pupil for three years to James Abernethy. During this
pupilage Inglis was involved in dock and harbour work, and this included
work on the Alexandra Railways and Docks at Newport. In 1875 he joined the
South Devon Railway, under P.J. Margary, M.I.C.E., then Chief Engineer of
that line and of the Cornwall Railway. Inglis's early employment at Plymouth
was on the construction of the deep water quays and works at Millbay, and
subsequently on the heavy doublings and work then in progress on the South
Devon and Cornwall Railways.
On the absorption of the Sonth Devon Railway in 1878 by the Great
Western Railway, Inglis joined the staff of the larger system, but soon left
to enter private practice as a civil engineer at Plymouth, in which capacity
he held various posts and performed varied engineering works. He was also
involved in large works, such as the Princetown Railway, the Bodmin Branch
Railway, the Boscarne extension, the reconstruction of the great South Devon
viaducts at Cornwood, Ivybridge and beyond, Marley Tunnel, etc. This varied
experience was soon to tell, and in June, 1892, the Great Western Railway
directors invited him to rejoin the Company as Assistant-Engineer at Paddington.
In October, 1892, or only four months after his arrival at Paddington, Inglis
was appointed Chief Engineer.
From the above it will be seen that Inglis had for a lengthened period
dealt with heavy issues and varied problems, an excellent training
in conjunction with his intimate knowledge of the Great Western
Railway's systemfor the responsible post of General
Manager of the Great Western Railway. He was a Lient. Colonel in the Railway
Staff Corps, was Vice-President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and
a prominent member of the Engineering Standards Committee. Died Rottingdean
on 19 December 1911. James Sutherland in the
Biographical Dictionary of Civil
Engineers does not state his relationship with Churchward, but does
note his admiration for Brunel and a 1903 paper on the
design of permanent way and
locomotives for high speeds.
(Marshall).
see also Backtrack, 2014, 28,
134 for proposed electrification of Severn Tunnel
One must ponder on the relationship between Inglis, a very great civil
engineer and manager, and Churchward, the great
mechanical engineer. He was succeeded as General Manager by
Frank Potter..
The Engineers Department. Rly
Mag., 1, 519.
As General Manager: Rly Mag.,
1903, 13, 156 includes portrait on p. 152
As General Manager: Rly Mag., 1908,
22, 89
Nock, O.S. Railway enthusuast's
encyclopedia
Jack Simmons: Oxford Companion
p.222
Inglis, [Dr] John
Born in 1842; son of Anthony Inglis. Died 1919. Proprietor of A. &
J. Inglis, shipbuilders and engineers on the Clyde. Studied at Glasgow
University. John Inglis was Chairman of the NBR locomotive committee and
had encouraged the development of the Atlantics.
Thomas (North British)
notes this connection, but says no more about Inglis other than to note
that the NBR only acquired Inglis vessels for its steamer services. Keen
yachtsman and designer of yachts.See Simpson,
NBR Study Group J., 2000, (78),
27..
Ismay, Joseph Bruce
Born in Crosby, Liverpool on 12 December 1862; died Mayfair, London
on 17 October 1937, educated Harrow. Shipowner of White Star Line liner
Titanic from which he escaped on one the few lifeboats
whilst children and women drowned; director of LMS and formerly of LNWR.
Also on Board of Birmingham Canal Navigation. Who Was Who and
C.H. Ellis. London Midland &
Scottish. Nock A
history of the LMS
Jackson, Willaim Fulton
Born Glasgow on 12 November 1855. Worked in a clerk in a Glasgow hatter's
business and joined the NBR as a clerk in Edinburgh on 1 February 1877 where
his progress was steady being noted for his attention to detail. According
to David L. Smith (Locomotive
Mag.,1946, 52, 120 appointed Secretary to the Ayrshire &
Wigtownshire Railway in 1880. Appointed General Manager North British Railway
in 1899; previously Rating Agent. Gave evidence for the Scottish railway
companies to the Royal Commission on Rating and Valuation. Retired on 14
May 1918; and died on 30 November 1931. His wife had predeceased him in 1919;
they had no children, and the estate was left to a niece.
D. Cattenach. William Fulton Jackson.
North British Study Gp J., 2010 (109) 35. which contains two
portraits. Further portrait rear cover Issue
95 NBRSGJ Illustrated
interview, Rly Mag., 1901, 8, 300.
Retirement North British Study Gp J.,
2020 (139) 43
Killin, Robert
Born 14 October 1870. Died 26 December 1943. Educated Scots School,
Rutherglen. Joined the Caledonian Railway in 1892; by 1897 was night
stationmaster at Carlisle. By 1910 was superintendent of the Western Division
of the Caledonian Railway and by 1916 was superindent of the line, becoming
in General Superintendent of the Northern Division after the formation of
the LMS. Responsible in 1928 for an investigation into the state of the Clogher
Valley Railway and a 37pp Report published by HMSO.
Patterson: Clogher Valley
Railway. Chairman Stelar Oil Co., Glasgow, 1936; Chairman Ailsa
Shipbuilding Co., 1940.
Laing, Samuel
Jack Simmons (Oxford Companion)
biographical sketch notes that one of Five Kings on Railway
Board chaired by Dalhousie. Later he twice served as Chairman of the London
Brighton & South Coast Railway (1848-55 and 1867-94). "He successfully
sorted out tangles, calmed tempers, and restored confidence'.
ODNB entry by Thomas Seccombe revised by Philip
S. Bagwell was born in Edinburgh on 12 December 1812; was educated at
Houghton-le-Spring grammar school and St John's College, Cambridge where
he became a Fellow. He also qualified as a barrister. He died at Sydenham
Hill on 6 August 1897..
Lambert, Henry
General Manager of the GWR from 1887 (when aged 54) until his resignation
in July 1896 following a long illnes. Managed the final conversion from the
broad gauge. Prior to his appointment as General Manger he had been Chief
Goods Manager from March 1879, and prior to that had worked for Pickford
& Co. from 1847 before becoming Goods Superintendent at Paddington in
May 1865. . McDermot History of the
Great Western Railway rev. Clinker
Lawrence, Charles Napier
Born 27 May 1855; died 17 December 1927. Became Lord Kingsgate. (Wikipedia
2011). Last Chairman of LNWR: first Chairman of LMS.. A son of Lord Lawrence
of the Punjab. Served on LNWR Board from 1884. Had interests in insurance
and in South American railways: he was Chairman of Antofagasta & Bolivia
Railway. M.C. Reed
Lawrence, General Sir Herbert Alexander
Born 8 August 1861; died 17 January 1943. Educated Harrow School
and Royal Military College Sandhurst. Full military history given in
Wikipedia which included that in both Second Boer War and WW1. member of
the Royal Commission on the Coal Industry in 1925, a trustee of the Imperial
War Graves Commission in 1926 and a governor of Wellington College. He became
chairman of Vickers in 1926 and of Glyn's Bank in 1934. Director of the Midland
Railway, both prior to WW1 and following it; then moved onto LMS Board. Chairman
of Vickers in 1926 and Glyn's Bank in 1934.
McCarthy, Patrick
Manager of Listowell & Ballybunion Railway: information from
Hennessey, R.A.S. One track to
the future. Backtrack, 2005, 19, 437-41; and references
therein
Maclure, Sir William
Director of Cambrian Railways (involved in unfair dismissal of official
on that railway) and on Great Central Railway where
son, W.G.P. was locomotive running superintendent.
Jackson J.G. Robinson.
McColl, Hugh
Nock (Great locomotives of
the Southern Railway) (page 94) and the
Locomotives of R.E.L. Maunsell
refers to Hugh McColl, Chief Clark at Ashford as a dour and
Indomitable character, who had been brought to Ashford from Kilmarnock by
James Stirling. According to Nock he mellowed under Maunsell. In group portrait
at ARLE meeting in Grasmere
Locomotive Mag., 1925,
31, 31.
McKenna, David
Born 18 February 1911, Died 29 January 2003. Educated at Eton and
Cambridge. (Who was Who).Bonavia thought highly of him
(Railways South East, 1993,
3, 182). He was General Manager of the Southern Region between
1963 and 1968. He had come to the Region from London Transport in 1955 to
become Assistant General Manager of the Southern Region
(Locomotive Mag., 1955,
61, 118) where he had been Chief Commercial and Public Relations
Officer. Joined BRB Board in 1968
(Railway Wld, 1968,
29, 286). He had a distinguished WW2 record and held the
OBE. He was the son of a former Chancellor of the Exchequer and enjoyed
independent means. Wonderful appreciation of Graff-Baker in Seymour Biscoe
Tritton Lecture. Grayer (Southern
Way No. 17, 46 et seq) describes his highly dated Traveller's
Handbook of 1965/6.
Pictured at Deltic roll-out Loco.
Mag., 1955, 61, 190
Papers
Management of design. (Sir Seymour Biscoe Tritton lecture).
J. Instn Loco Engrs., 1966,
56, 318-29,
Martin, Herbert
In charge of Research Department on LMS and then in similar capacity
for British Railways until his retirement if 1961. Clashed with Colin Inglis,
Chief Research Officer of British Transport Commission.
Matheson, [Sir] Alexander
Born at Attadale in Wester Ross on 16 January 1805.Educated at the
University of Edinburgh and then went to the Far East, initially in Calcutta
and then in Canton where he formed Jardine, Matheson and was involved in
the opium trade. He retuned to Britain in 1842 and became MP for the Inverness
burghs in 1847. He was Chairman of the Inverness & Aberdeen Junction
Railway; then Highland Railway (until 1884). He was responsible for the Woosung
Road Co., the first (brief) railway in China. He was created a baronet in
1882 and died in London on 26 July 1886. ODNB
entry by Richard J. Grace and see
Backtrack, 2010, 24, 204..
Matheson, Donald Alexander
Born in Perthshire in 1860. Educated at Perth Academy and Watt College,
Edinburgh. Last General Manager and Consulting Engineer of the Caledonian
Railway: appointed 1 October 1910 until 1922, then General Manager of London
Midland and Scottish Railway in Scotland, 1923-26. and retired 31 December
1926 (SLS Caledonian Railway
centenary). Trained as a Civil Engineer and worked for LNWR. Brought
in as Resident Engineer to the Glasgow Central Railway which was creating
a great financial drain for the Caledonian Railway
(Nock: Caledonian Railway)
died 10 December 1935 (Who Was Who). Member of Engineering
Standards Committee; Past Vice-President of the Institution of Engineers
and Shipbuilders in Scotland; Lt-Col Engineer and Railway Staff Corps; Member
of the Government Railway Executive Committee during WW1; Chairman of the
General Manager's Conference of the Associated Railway Companies of Great
Britain, 1917. Director of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce and of several
charitable institutions; has designed and constructed many railway engineering
works of magnitude. Also Mullay's
London's Scottish railways Humm
(J. Rly Canal Hist. Soc., 2015,
38, 252) notes plaque in main entrance to Glasgow Central
station.
Matthews, Sir Ronald
Born 25 June 1885. Died 1 July 1959. Educated at Eton. (Who Was
Who). Sir Ronald Matthews lived in Doncaster, and was also Chairman of
the Sheffield firm of Turton Brothers and Matthews, and had been Master Cutler.
Both Gresley and Thompson were his house guests, and evidently close, as
Prudence, one of the Matthews daughters, recalls them as 'Uncle Tim' and
'Uncle Ned'. On paper. Thompson should have been the automatic choice to
succeed Gresley. but according to Stewart Cox, Sir Ronald made approaches
to his opposite number on the Southern, to see if Bulleid could be enticed
back, and the LMS, to enquire after the availability of Roland Bond, whom
he had interviewed in connection with Bond's appointment to superintend the
joint LNER/LMS locomotive testing station. However, Bulleid was engaged in
the production of his new 'Merchant Navy' Pacifics, and Bond had just been
put in charge of the workshops at Crewe, so neither could be spared.
Consequently, here being no other obvious candidates for the post, without
further delay, Matthews appointed Edward Thompson as CME of the LNER, the
decision being confirmed at the Board Meeting on 24th April, 1941, just 19
days after Gresley's passing. Hughes: Sir
Nigel Gresley. Terry Jenkins
Sir Ernest Lemon notes how Lemon served on committees of the Railway
Companies' Association, on which Matthews was Chairman, during WW2 to explore
the prospects for Post-War reconstruction. Matthews used the celebratory
luncheon to mark the centenary of the railway from Edinburgh to Berwick to
speak against nationalization (Scotsman 21 June 1946). He also wished
to see The Coronation back in service. see Bonavia
Railway Wld., 1975,
36, 322-4.
Mewburn, Francis
Born 1785; died 1867. First railway solicitor (Stockton & Darlington
Railway). Steered Bill through Parliament.
Vallance Railway enthusiast's
bedside book
Millar, Robert
Appointed Interim General Manager in 1901
(Rly Mag., 1901, 8, 254
with portrait). Born in Stirling in 1850. In 1879 he had been sent to
Belfast to be the Caledonian Railway's representative in Ireland. Died, at
early age of 58, when general manager of the Caledonian Ry., at Glasgow on
Friday, 18 September 1908. Mr. Millar entered the service of the company
in 1873 as a goods clerk, and by sheer merit reached the highest office open
to him in 1901. He was highly respected and extremely popular both in his
business capacity and his social relations.
Locomotive Mag., 1908,
14, 170.
Millard, C.
District Freight Manager at Huskisson Freight Terminal in Liverpool:
portrait of him with Sir Brian Robertson.
Backtrack, 2019, 33,
750.
Milne, [Sir] James
Born in Dublin, 4 May 1883. Father was a Scottish Presbyterian minister.
Educated High School Dublin, Campbell College, Belfast, Victoria University
Manchester and pupil of Churchward at Swindon. MICE. He then served in the
offices of the superintendent of the line and of the general manager, and
in 1912 took charge of the passenger train running department. Four years
later he was appointed chief clerk to the divisional superintendent at Pontypool
Road and Newport, and service in Swansea and Plymouth followed. Then moved
to GWR Headquarters where he was concerned with statistics. He became director
of statistics at new Ministry of Transport in 1919, subsequently as one of
the two officials selected to assist the Committee on National Expenditure.
In 1922, he was selected by Lord Inchcape to assist the Indian Retrenchment
Committeea work for which he received the C.S.I. He returned to GWR
in 1922 as AGM and became GM in 1929. Witness to
Weir Committee on Railway Electrification.
He was knighted in 1932. During WW2 he was deputy-chairman of the Railway
Executive Committee and Nock notes that his great qualities were shown to
great advantage during the flying bomb attacks on London during WW2.. He
was opposed to Nationalization, but offered chairmanship of Railway Executive,
but declined it. In 1948 he reported to the Irish Minister for Industry and
Commerce in Report on Transport in
Ireland. The motive power aspects of this report are considered by
Clements and McMahon in The
locomotives of the GSR especially on pp. 334-5. Earlier Milne had
contributed significant parts of multi-authored works on the administration
of railways: see Ottley 1744,3475 and 3704. Died on 1 April 1958 (Who
was who). H.A.V. Bulleid Master builders
of steam notes page 116 that was known as Jimmy. See appointment
as GM, GWR: Locomotive Mag.,
1929, 35, 236. see also Szlumper diaries
which are severely critical of Milne and the Great Western's lack of
War effort. Secret meeting with General Montgomery for pre-D-day briefing
in Shareholders' Meeting Room at Euston Station on 22 February 1944 (Monty
had been lunched at Paddington prior to meeting Didcot Centre) .
Locomotive Mag., 1944.
50. 45.
Geoffrey Channon in Dictionary of Business Biography
Nock, O.S. Railway enthusuast's
encyclopedia
Mitchell, Robert Proctor
Collaborated with Bassett-Lowke, latterly through Narrow Guage Railways
Ltd, in the creation of miniature pleasure railways, but also in the running
of the 15 inch version of the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway. Davies's
The Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway has little information
about Mitchell except to note his involvement in pleasure lines at Rhyl and
Southport and that he came from a wealthy ship-owning family and was probably
experienced in maintaining engines.
Moffat, William
General Manager of the GNSR since 1880. Formerly with NER in Newcastle
area, including the management of Tyne Dock.
Rly Mag.,
1899, 5, 289. Portrait
Moorsom, Constantine Richard
Born Portsmouth 22 September 1792. Died London 26 May 1861 following
an operation on an old wound received at the Battle of Copenhagen..
Brother of William Scarth Moorsom:
Marshall included both to avoid confusion.
Constantine was educated at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth from 1807-9.
He wsa Joint Secretary of the Birmingham & Gloucester Railway from 1833
where his brother was Engineer. He rose to be Chairman shortly before the
line was taken over by the Midland Railway. He also served the London &
Birmingham Railway as Secretary. Later he became a director of the LNWR and
chairman from Ocober 1852. See Reed. and
Peter Braine: The railway
Moon who takes the perceptive quotation from an obituary in Herepath
that "the gallant Admiral sat generally quiet and unobrusive, seldom taking
part in the discussions, but when he did it was always to uphold the plans
of the board, with a little too much of the quarter deck. many thought, in
his manner"..
Morgan, John
Joined LCDR as Accountant 35 years ago. Assisted Lord Cairns and Lord
Salisbury in their investigation of finances of LCDR in 1869.
See Rly Mag., 2,
481.
Neele, George Potter
Author of reminiscences
of his career on the LNWR which culminated in his being
Superintendent of the Line and responsible for the Company's links with the
Railway Clearing House and for Royal train journeys. One of
Nock, O.S. Railway enthusuast's
encyclopedia 93 "personalities". Dawn
Smith adds birth (12 December 1825) and death (4 January 1921) dates
and career details from obituary in
Locomotive Mag., 1921,
27, 51. He began his railway carrer on the Eastern Counties Railway
in 1847; became chief clerk of the South Staffordshire Railway in 1849;
Superintendent of the Line on the LNWR in 1862 Responsible for handling Royal
journeys and work with Railway Clearing House..
Newbold, A.M.
British Railways Manager of Paris Offfice: Prior to that he had been
Southern Railway's man in charge of Paris Office. During WW2 he was given
the vpost of Assistant Manager of the Western District Office att Exeter
Central. His evacuation from France via St. Malo is described by Hugh J.
Compton in J. Rly Canal Hist. Soc.,
2000, 33, 258.
Newnes, Sir George
Driving force behind Lynton & Barnstaple Railway.
See Rly Mag., 2, 457.
Born in Matlock on 13 March 1851. He was educated at Silcoates School, Yorkshire,
Shireland Hall, Birmingham, and for two terms at the City of London School.
At sixteen he was apprenticed to a wholesale haberdasher in the City,
subsequently travelling in haberdashery and managing a shop in
Manchester. In 1881 moved into popular journalsim with the weekly
Tit-Bits. This grew and Newnes became a major newpaper proprietor
.
Newton, Sir Charles
Born 6 June 1882; died 23 May 1973. Knighted 1943. Joined GWR in 1897;
Assistant to Comptroller Great Eastern Railway 1916; Chief Accountant, GER
1922; Chief Accountant, LNER 1928; Divisional General Manager (Southern Area)
1936; Chief General Manager LNER, 1939-47, Director 1947; Holder of Brunel
Medal London School of Economics, University of London; Publication: Railway
Accounts, 1930 (Ottley 3488). Who Was Who.; opened Jaywick Miniature
Railway: see Locomotive...,
1936, 42, 247. Michael Bonavia worked for him see
Railway Wld., 1975,
36, 322-4.
Newton, Sir (Charles) Wilfrid
Born 11 December 1928. Educated Orange Preparatory School, Johannesburg
and Highlands North High School, Johannesburg and University of Witwatersrand.
CBE 1988, Knighted 1993. Chairman and Chief Executive, London Regional Transport,
1989-94; Chairman, London Underground Ltd, 1989-94 following Chairman and
Chief Executive, Mass Transit Railway Corporation, Hong Kong, 198-89 and
career in financial management. Who's Who.;
Newton, George Bolland
Born Dulwich in 1838. Educated Charterhouse. Had hoped to enter university
and become barister, but had to join North London Railway as a lad. He became
Secretary in 1875 and General Manager in 1877. Lieut. Colonel in Engineer
and Railway Staff Corps. Chairman N&SWJR. Auditor RCH. Associate Instn
Civ. Engrs. Management of Railway Benovelent Institution. St John Ambulance
Association. Hobbies included horses and dogs.
Oakley, Sir Henry
Born November 1823. Clerk at Somerset House; then Assistant at House
of Commons; then from 1849 clerk in GNR Secretay's office; Assistant Secretary;
Accountant; Secretary from 1858 and General Manager from 1870. Knighhted
in 1891 and joined Board in 1897. With late William Grinling had uncovered
the Redpath fraud. Illustrated Interview:
Rly Mag., 2, 193. Nock,
O.S. Railway enthusuast's encyclopedia
Wragg Historical
disctionary
O'Brien, William
Irishman. Captain O'Brien was Secretary of the Great North of England
Railway from 1841 to 1845. He then served as Secretary of The Wiltshire,
Somerset & Weymouth Railway before returning north as Secretary of York,
Newcastle & Berwick and became the first General Manager of the North
Eastern Railway. His resignation in February 1871 had been associated with
the severe criticism by W. Yolland in his
report on the Brockley Whins accident of 6 December 1870 where a head-on
collision was caused by a lack of interlocking at facing points (suggested
by Prof. Simmons in his account in The
Express Train and Other Railway Studies), but his retirement
was mentioned in The Northern Echo as early as 7 December 1870: Page
3, col.1: "Captain O'Brien will retire from the management of the North-Eastern
Railway at the end of the year." Neil Mackay (e-mail to KPJ) notes the absence
of O'Brien's departure from the Company's Board Minutes, although his successor's
(Tennant) appointment is. O'Brien died in London on 6 September 1873.
According to Dawn Smith was born in Co.
Clare in 1808. C.J. Allen The North
Eastern Railway. Further research into Capt. O'Brien and his mysterious
departure from the NER in 1871 has revealed that his retirement was mentioned
in The Northern Echo as early as 7th Dec 1870: The story had reached
York by 31 December (York Herald, p.9) On 7th January 1871 the same
newspaper had a short item under "Local News" on p9: "NORTH-EASTERN RAILWAY.
At a meeting of the Directors of this line, on Friday week, Mr. Tennant
was appointed General Manager of the Company, retaining his present position
as auditor; and Mr. Wilkinson, formerly of the Transfer Office, was appointed
secretary in the place of Mr. Cleghorn, who has resigned." [No mention of
O'Brien]. Strangely, this is NOT recorded in the Board minutes. However,
I think that the newspaper reports indicate that O'Brien's retirement was
under consideration from early December 1870, and that there is nothing to
indicate that his employment was terminated as a result of adverse comments
received from the Board of Trade, as has been suggested by Prof. Simmons
in his account in The Express Train and Other Railway Studies. The
fact that there is no mention of the change in GM in the Board Minutes, or
in those of any of the Committees, is highly unusual. Perhaps the matter
was considered prejudicial by the NER solicitors in view of the compensation
claims for Brockley Whins, in particular after Yolland's reports appeared,
but this would not be the case in early December 1870. The Board presented
Cleghorn with a purse containing one thousand pounds, and an engraved silver
inkstand in late December 1870; he became a director. O'Brien was presented
with a centre-piece in September 1871, but this was subscribed by the workmen
(and Tennant organised the collection). There appears to have been no
presentation by the Board, nor were Board members in attendance at the September
gathering. All very mysterious. York Reference Library has George Leeman's
papers, and I plan to examine these in case there is any private mention
of the affair.I hope that this might be of some interest for Steam Index
(but probably not in as much detail).
Paget, [George] Ernest
Born on 10 November 1841. Educated at Harrow. Enjoyed himself in Royal
Horse Guards and became Chairman of the Midland Railway.
Father of Cecil Paget. Died on 30 December
1923.
Parker, Sir Peter
Born in Malo-les-Bains, near Dunkirk, France, on 30 August 1924, the
third son of Tom Parker, a marine engineer born in Hull, and his wife, Dorothy
Sydney, née Mackinlay, a teacher. He spent half of his childhood
in France, and the rest, from 1932, in Shanghai, where he was educated at
the Shanghai public school. In 1937, with the Japanese invasion of China,
the family was evacuated to Britain. Parker's father then worked for many
years in Africa, but his mother settled with her children in Bedford, where
Parker attended Bedford School. WW2 then shaped his studies, for he won a
special scholarship to the School of Oriental and African Studies to study
Japanese. He was called up in 1943, serving first in the Intelligence Corps
in India and Burma, then in the United States and Japan (19457), acquiring
the rank of major.
On demobilization Parker was accepted at Lincoln College, Oxford, reading
history but, spent much of his time in acting, politicshe was chairman
of the University Labour Cluband participating in numerous sports,
where his charismatic personality and motivational skills were fully evident.
He might have made a career as an actor, playing Hamlet in a Kenneth Tynan
production, and King Lear in a West End production and subsequently on an
American tour. In 1950 he graduated with a second-class degree in history,
and won a Commonwealth Fund fellowship to Cornell and Harvard. The following
year he returned to Britain to contest Bedford (unsuccessfully) for the Labour
Party. On 15 December 1951 he married Gillian Rowe-Dutton (19252010),
medical doctor, and daughter of Sir Ernest Rowe-Dutton, civil servant. They
had three sons and a daughter.
On marriage Parker abandoned his political ambitions and pursued a business
career. After spending two years in personnel with Phillips Electrical, he
undertook higher profile appointments as head of the overseas department
of the Industrial Welfare Society (19534) and then secretary to the
Duke of Edinburgh's study conference on the human problems of industry
(19546), for which he was appointed LVO in 1957. He joined Booker Brothers
McConnell in 1956, where he played a full part in implementing Bookers'
successful diversification strategies. By the early 1970s he could lay claim
to be a professional company director with a wide portfolio: he had been
a director of Bookers (196070) and chairman of Bookers Engineering
and Industrial Holdings Ltd (196670), and was chairman of the glass
and plastic container manufacturer Rockware (19716) and director or
chairman of a string of other companies. Under his guidance they weathered
the storms of the recession and battles for corporate control in the 1970s
and showed a flair for reinvention and diversification. He also acquired
a substantial experience of public corporations, as a board member of the
British Steel Corporation (19679), the British Tourist Authority
(196975), and the British Airways Board (197181).
Parker's enthusiasm for both the public and private sectors brought him to
the notice of governments. In 1967 Barbara Castle offered him the chairmanship
of British Rail, but he felt he could not accept the job at the then going
rate of £12,500. Ten years later, after the end of Richard Marsh's reign,
there was another chance. This time Parker accepted, though it meant taking
a post at only £23,300 a year, a third of his private sector salary,
and less than Richard Beeching had been paid fifteen years earlier. As chairman
of the British Railways Board from September 1976 to September 1983, he
immediately set about redressing the prevailing atmosphere of gloom and
despondencyrailway fortunes were, as Parker later wrote,
at an achingly low ebb (Parker, 184)which had accompanied
Marsh's failure to win more investment for the railways at a time of economic
stringency; a state of perpetual audit, with numerous public
inquiries and policy reviews; and the evident road-building enthusiasm of
the Department of the Environment.
Parker emphasized the need to respond positively and openly to his sponsoring
department, now newly constituted as the Department of Transport. He also
set about transforming the structure of the board. His changes in January
1977 gave the board a firmer grip of railway management via a more centralized
functional shape, and heralded important further alterations: the identification
of the board's subsidiaries as businesses to be operated commercially as
separate limited companies; the public service obligation, a properly constituted
device for subsidizing unprofitable but socially necessary passenger services;
and sector management, the division of the railway businesses
into five defined sectorsintercity, London commuting, provincial services,
freight, and parcels, each with a manager given growing responsibility for
financial performance. In 1978 he established a strategy unit as an
in-house consultancy think tank, to provide longer-term planning,
and went on to revolutionize British Rail's public relations, notably with
the appointments of Grant Woodruff and Will Camp. Symbolically, he moved
the board headquarters from 222 Marylebone Road to the brighter Rail House
in Euston. He also introduced a more consensual approach to industrial relations
with the joint managementunion British Rail Council of 1979 and the
trade associationtrade union document Investment in
Transport (1981). Other innovationsincluding the establishment
of an environment panel, a commuter's charter, and improved access for the
disabledwere entirely Parkerian in conception. His chairmanship also
saw the development of new trains such as the flawed advanced passenger train
and the more enduring high-speed train, the introduction of the Total Operations
Processing System (TOPS) computer system for control of freight operating,
and support for the channel tunnel, which he helped to keep alive after the
abandonment of the first project in 1975. He was knighted in 1978.
Parker did not flourish in what he called the stony age of Thatcher
(Gourvish personal knowledge), where nationalized railways came in for particular
criticism. With hindsight he should not have accepted a two-year extension
to his five-year term in 1981, despite an increase in salary, to £60,000.
He failed to win the government over to the desirability of a long-term policy
for the railways based on social cost-benefit criteria, and his ambitious
plans for railway electrification, outlined in reports in 1981, were rejected.
There were also serious problems with the trade unions, where ASLEF's resistance
to Parker's notion of a contractinvestment in return for improved
productivity and, more specifically, flexible methods of working, or
flexible rosteringwas used as an example to the labour
movement by the Thatcher government. Parker was instructed to stand firm,
and spoke rather ruefully of virility symbols. The bitter and
highly visible strikes in 1982, when Parker was squeezed between an intransigent
government, hawkish railway managers, and unions demanding rewards for
productivity concessions, stretched his faith in consensus. Some of his actions
played into the hands of opponents. His battle to obtain adequate funding
of railways via warnings about the consequences of postponed
maintenancethe crumbling edge of qualitymerely produced
another searching review of railway finances, the Serpell report of 1983.
The latter, although effectively sidelined by Parker's publicity machine,
left him disappointed by the acrimony that accompanied it, and left his
successor, Bob Reid, to cope with its findings, notably the opportunities
for further savings in railway costs. At the same time Parker's enthusiasm
for publicprivate partnership for his subsidiary businesses, a device
to inject capital into these neglected activities, merely encouraged a process
of privatization via disposal and sale.
In 1983 Parker returned to the private sector in rather bruised condition.
Yet his legacy was not inconsiderable. He had encouraged railway managers
to concentrate upon their core competences and to do so with pride. He had
established a new organization with a centralized board, and with sector
managers given bottom-line responsibility for the several rail
businesses. He certainly did not flinch in his battles with the unions. In
overall terms his impact was more positive than negative.
Parker's autobiography, For Starters: the Business of
Life (1989), gives due weight to his railway years, but does not
allow them to dominate the account. After British Rail he went back to Rockware,
helped this rather beleaguered company to revive its fortunes, and was chairman
until 1992. He gathered additional posts as chairman of, and as a director
of various other companies, and pursued his business links with Japan via
Mitsubishi in particular, serving as chairman of Mitsubishi Electric UK
(198496), and then Mitsubishi Electric Europe (19962002). He
was prominent in organizing two highly successful festivals of Jananese culture
in 1991 and 2000, and remained closely involved in the organization of the
Duke of Edinburgh's Commonwealth study conferences. A cultured man of wide
interests, he was chairman of the National Theatre Board (198691),
and of the Young Vic (19936), and gave much of his time to higher
education, notably as chairman of Westfield College London (196976),
and vice-chairman of the London University Court (19702002). At the
London School of Economics he was first a governor, then chairman of the
court (198898), and was particularly supportive of the business history
unit. He also served as vice-chairman of the British Institute of Management
for many years, and helped to establish the Foundation for Management Education.
He was made a KBE in 1993. Above all, he enjoyed spending time with his family.
A unique and sometimes paradoxical figure, Parker combined a distinguished
war service with left-wing sympathies, an enthusiasm for business and politics
with a deep interest in literature and the arts, and support for and experience
of the private sector with an equal commitment to the public sector. While
his appeal to consensus and his convivial approach did not suit everyone,
he was above all a crusader, an arch-motivator who could make people at all
levels of an organization feel special. Described in obituaries as a true
renaissance man, he was able to convey the excitement of the challenge
of life, whether in business, academia, or politics. More than most he was
equipped to prosper in what he called the bowl of piranhas that
was the public sector (Parker, 194), where he approached the public policy
challenge with good humour and a spirit of co-operation. In the middle of
an intense battle with the trade unions he could find an analogy in poetry
or political discourse. He also revealed a talent for portraiture and his
sketches enlivened many a public record. His business career combined
inexhaustible energy, courage, and personal warmth, and he was not afraid
to innovate or take chances. As he put it: Do all your sums, look hard,
but don't forget you still have to leap (ibid., 317).
He established the Railway Heritage
Trust in 1984. He died of a heart attack while on holiday in Bodrum,
Turkey, on 28 April 2002, leaving an estate valued at over £2 million.
Terry Gourvish ODNB
Patrick, William .
Born Strathaven in 1853. Educated Hamilton Academy and St John's Grammar
School in Hamilton. Worked in Hamilton Gasworks and when aged 15 joined the
General Manager's office of the Caledonian Railway. Worked as a Parliamentary
clerk. In 1889 became Assistant Traffic Superintendent; then Assistant General
Manager in 1891 and General Manager from 1 February 1900. Lieutenant-Colonel
in the Engineer & Railway Staff Corps.
Railway portrait gallery. Mr William
Patrick. Rly Mag., 1900, 7, 385 + portrait on fp. Died
12 January 1901 (SLS Caledonian Railway
centenary). .
Pease, Edward
Quaker industrialist from Darlington (born 31 May 1767 and died there
on 31 July 1858) who brought George Stephenson to the Stockton & Darlington
Railway and assisted with the establishment of Robert Stephenson & Co.
Maurice W. Kirby has contributed biographies to the
Oxford Companion to British railway
history and to the Oxford Dictionary
of National Biography as well as the book: The origins of railway
enterprise: the Stockton and Darlington Railway, 1821-1863. Cambridge
University Press, 1993. Pease entry in
John Marshall. Raistrick Quakers
in science and industry. Cathcart centenary tribute
Rly Wld, 1958, 19,
234.
Pease, Joseph
Born Darlington on 22 June 1799. Educated at Tatham's Academy, Leeds,
and Josiah Forster's Academy, London. He aided his father, Edward (above)
in the projection of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, in 1819 and 1820
by preparing the company's first prospectus. He emerged as an influential
voice in the management of the railway in 1828, when he took the lead in
projecting an extension of the line from Stockton to the hamlet of Middlesbrough
further down the Tees estuary. Pease was a leading shareholder in Robert
Stephenson & Co., of Newcastle. Died on 8 February 1872 and buried in
the Quaker burial-ground in Darlington. ODNB
entry by A.F. Pollard, revised by Charlotte Fell-Smith and M.W. Kirby.
Paese entry in John Marshall. Statue
in High Street, Darlington see
Backtrack, 2011, 25, 740
Perks, [Sir] Robert William
Born in London on 24 April 1849 and died there on 30 November 1934.
Educated at New Kingswood School, Bath and King's College London and worked
as a lawyer who specialised in the law relating to railways. He assisted
Messrs. T.A. and C. Walker, contractors, and was involved in Barry Docks
and the Manchester Ship Canal. He was Chairman of the Metropolitan District
Railway during 1902-06 (the period of electrification) and had been solicitor
to the Metropolitan Railway before then. He was MP for Louth between 1892
and 1910. He was a distinguished Methodist and was closely involved with
the construction of Central Hall, Westminster.
ODNB biography by O.A. Rattenbury revised by
Clive D. Field. See also Stephen
Halliday's Fraud, liquidation and ingratitude. Backtrack, 2008,
22, 437. Covick, Owen.
R.W. Perks and the Barry Railway Company, Part 1: to early-1887. J. Rly
Canal Hist. Soc., 2008, 36, 71-83 and following
parts: Part 3. Mentioned and portrayed
in Horne's London's District Railway.
Volume 2.
Phillipps, William Douglas
Appreniced to Scott Russell, buiilder
of Brunel's Great Eastern and appointed to manage a possibly a
Welsh mineral railway before he was 21. In January 1866 he became a Mmeber
of the Railway Clearing House Goods' Managers Conference. In 1871 this railway
was purchased by the LNWR and GWR and Phillipps became District Manager (Swansea)
of the LNWR. Later he became Manager of the North East District based
in Manchester and in 1882 General Manager of the North Stafford shire Railway
and ultimately a Director of the Company. He had been Chairman of the General
Managers' Conference in 1902. Dawn
Smith. Fell, Backtrack, 2020,
34, 625. Photograph of him at opening of Planet
lock on Caldon branch of Trent & Mersey Canal in 1909 in
Backtrack, 2023, 37,
390.
Pick, Frank
Born Spalding, Lincs., on 23 November 1878. Educated St Peter's School,
York. Articled to solicitor, took his LLB (London) in 1902, with first-class
honours; entered the North Eastern Railway eventually joining staff of the
general manager, Sir George Gibb. In 1906 Gibb took over
the management of the Metropolitan District and London Underground Electric
Railways and took Pick with him. In the following year Gibb retired from
his direct managerial responsibility and Pick was transferred to the staff
of his successor, A.H. Stanley, later Lord Ashfield.
Pick was closely associated with Stanley in the management of the underground
railways and from 1912, the London General Omnibus Company. As traffic
development officer (1909) and commercial manager (1912) he was responsible,
in particular, for building up the system of bus routes in London and also
for advertising. In 1917 Pick was appointed by his chief, then president
of the Board of Trade in Lloyd George's wartime government, to take charge
of the household fuel and lighting branch of the coal-mines control department,
under Guy Calthrop. Returning to the underground group of companies after
WW1, Pick became a joint assistant managing director in 1921 and three years
later assumed full administrative control under Ashfield. He became joint
managing director in 1928 and, when the London Passenger Transport Board
was formed in 1933 with Ashfield as chairman, Pick became vice-chairman and
chief executive officer.
It was the combination of Pick and Ashfield, rather than the individual
work of either, that led to the remarkable development of public passenger
transport in London: the two men were essentially complementary. Ashfield
was at his best in dealing with politicians, shareholders, and the public.
Pick was a very shy man, but a great administrator, responsible for the
day-to-day efficiency of a system which technically was generally acknowledged
to be without equal anywhere in the world. He had a very quick mind and an
exceptional grasp of operating and engineering principles and techniques.
There was no part of the transport undertaking of which he did not have a
thorough understanding; and the power of decision came easily to him. Through
his interest in the visual arts he encouraged good design in everyday things.
He commissioned Edward Johnston to design an alphabet for display purposes
(1916), and London Transport lettering on direction signs and posters became
celebrated for its clarity. Pick raised the standard of poster design by
seeking artists of quality, including Fred Taylor and McKnight Kauffer. Station
design, ranging from the overall architecture to small details, was subject
to Pick's personal scrutiny to ensure good design and fitness for purpose.
The many examples of excellent contemporary architecture in the buildings
erected by London Transport in Pick's time are lasting monuments to his ideals.
Pick retired from the London Passenger Transport Board in 1940 and was for
a short, unhappy time director-general of the Ministry of Information. In
1941 he undertook special duties for the minister of transport in connection
with the development of traffic on canals and inland waterways. He died in
Golders Green on 7 November 1941. Blue plawque at 15 Wildwood Road London
NW11 see Humm J. Rly Canal Hist.
Soc.,, 2015, 38, 252...
ODNB: John Elliot, revised Michael Robbins
Barman, C. The man who
built London Transport: a biography of Frank Pick. Newton Abbot: David
& Charles, 1979.
Plews, Henry
General Manager, Great Northern Railway (Ireland). Started railway
career at Manchester London Road on LNWR in Goods Manager's Office. Moved
to Euston to work in Rates Department. Divisional Manager for Shropshire
& Herefordshire District and then moved to the Irish North Western Railway.
In May 1890 became Secretary of the GNR(I) and was appointed General Manager
in April 1896. Illustrated Interview.
Rly Mag., 5, 385-400.
Pole, Sir Felix John Clewett
Born in Little Bedwyn on 1 February 1877, Felix John Clewett Pole
was the son of a schoolmaster. He became a telegraph lad on the GWR at Swindon
on 12 October 1891. Under James Charles Inglis he became in charge of publicity
and public relations. In 1912 he became responsible for staff and labour
and Chief Clerk in June 1913. He became General Manager of the GWR in June
1921 and resigned in 1929 when his relationship with the Chairman,
Viscount Churchill, became strained. He became Chairman
of Associated Electrical Industries in 1928. During later life he became
blind and died in Reading on 15 January 1956. Geoffrey Channon Dictionary
of Business Biography also excellent entry in
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography. See also replcement by James Milne in 1929:
Locomotive Mag., 1929,
35, 236. Knighthood was bestowed as part of Stanley Baldwin's
resignation honours. Locomotive Mag.,
1924, 30, 99.
Felix J.C. Pole: his book. 1954.
Ottley 5990: not available through inter-library lending system
paragraph (p50): "When the Bill was under discussion, particularly in the committee stage, there was the usual intrigue and effort to effect changes. So far as the Great Western was concerned, the most serious was an attempt by the London & North Western Company to secure the transfer of the Rhymney Railway from the Great Western to the LM&SR. Mr. Prosser, the General Manager of the Rhymney Railway told me that Sir Arthur Watson, the General Manager of the L&NWR, had offered to give him twice as good personal terms as he would get from the Great Western. Whether this was true or not, it certainly was the case that the L&NWR wished to retain an interest in South Wales via the Rhymney Railway."
Pole stated that "a railway does not know what each coach or each train on each direction carries." [Helm Backtrack 11 216..
See short feature on kindness of man:
Great Western Railway Journal
(34), 110.
Nock, O.S. Railway enthusuast's
encyclopedia
Pollitt, Sir William
Born Ashton-under-Lyne on 24 February 1842. Educated privately. Joined
MS&LR on 29 June 1857. Made Chief Accountatnt on 27 August 1869, and
Assistant General Manager on 1 January 1886. He became a JP and Colonel in
the Engineer and Volunteer Staff Corps. He was Chairman of the Wrexham Mold
& Connah's Quay Railway, and was a Director of the CLC and several small
railways.
The Managership of the Great Central
Railway. Rly Mag., 1902, 10, 23-5.
Andrew Dow wrote a concise biography in the
Oxford Companion (page 384)
Obituary Locomotive Mag.,
1908, 14, 187.
Pope, Frank Aubrey
Born 3 August 1893. Died 15 January 1962. Educated at The Leys School
(Who was who) entry which makes clear that Pope enjoyed a rich career:
being called upon to offer expertise in India in 1932-3 and again in 1933-4.
(he had served in Nigeria between 1925 and 1930). He was Director of Railways
to the BEF in France in the early stages of WW2.
Hendry states that Pope was trained on
the LNWR; succeeded Speir on the NCC in 1941
Locomotive Mag., 1941,
49, .31. Locomotive
Mag., 1938, 44, 225 notes that appointed to new position of
Superintendent of Operation uner T. Royle. In 1943 he was rewarded by becoming
Chief Commercial Manager of the LMS, and became Vice President 1946. He became
the Chairman of the UTA in 1948 where he introduced diesel railcars rebuilt
from steam rolling stock. He was also responsible for closing the narrow
gauge former NCC lines. In 1951 he joined the British Transport Commission,
where he failed to become its Chairman, but remained with the BTC until 1958.
Bonavia (British Rail: the first
25 years) tells of how he had been appointed Secretary to a Committee
of which Pope was the Chairman Frank Pope, who had in fact been Hurcomb's
nominee for the RE Chairmanship, but rejected by the Minister, initiated
a greater insistence upon Commission participation in railway matters. His
approach was based upon personal relationships rather than the written word;
his views were strongly held but he was not very articulate on paper. Friendly
(and preferably convivial) contacts were his chosen method of getting points
across. Bonavia was appointed Secretary to a Committee of which Pope was
Chairman. He sent for Bonavia and said: 'We are going to run this show as
follows. At the first meeting, you will arrange a damned good lunch and we
shall all get to know each other. At the second meeting, you will produce
a draft of our final report. The rest of our meetings will be spent in getting
your draft right'. One of Pope's interests - which was shared by Sir Reginald
Wilson, the forceful Comptroller of the Commission - was the cost of the
train services still maintained on minor lines and branches. The Executive
had set up two committees to review unremunerative lines and, where appropriate,
make recommendations for closure. But in the absence of any determined policy
on the part of the Executive as a whole, progress was slow. In fact, over
the six years of the Executive's existence the route-mileage only fell from
19,639 to 19,222, or by 2.1 per cent. In Northern Ireland, Pope had introduced
diesel railcar services extensively and he was convinced that they were the
answer to the problem of rural train services. He pressed the Executive to
exploit their possibilities and the RE set up in August 1951 a rather oddly-named
Light Weight Trains Committee, which reported with commendable speed in March
1952. E.S. Cox (J. Instn Loco. Engrs.,
1962, 52, 105): Notwithstanding the very big part which the Author
had played in the development of the vehicles, he would not mind it being
said that no description of their production and development would be complete
without a mention of the name of Frank Pope. It was well known that for many
years between the wars 37 cars of the kind described languished on the Great
Western Railway without further development either in the Region or in British
Railways, and it was only after the war, in Northern Ireland, that Frank
Pope, although not an engineer, did, in collaboration with his engineers
and the manufacturers, take the development to a worth while state, and it
was he as much as anyone who was instrumental, when he joined the Commission,
in initiating the Railcar Committee which started the whole job, and from
his position in the Commission Frank Pope kept a close watch on the development
through all its stages. The biography
of Ermest Lemon (by Terry Jenkins) notes that Ernest Lemon and Frank
Pope had known each other since their youths (but Lemon was considerably
older): at Darvel and on holiday at Machrie Bay on the Isle of Arran.
Langridge Under ten CMEs 2
page 163 states that Pope was a close associate of Cleaver, the manager
(KPJ: managing director?) of AEC.
Portal, Wyndham Raymond
Last Chairman of the Great Western Railway: opponent of nationalisation,
but according to ODNB biography (J.V. Sheffield
revised by Robert Brown) was recognized by Attlee to have been great
influence on attempting to alleviate poverty. Born into family of banknote
paper manufacturers (Portals) at Overton in Hampshire on 9 April 1885. Educated
Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. Director GWR: Chairman from 1945, by which
time he had been created a Vscount. Died 6 May 1949.
Portal, Sir Wyndham Spencer
Born 22 July 1822; died 14 September 1905. Educated at Harrow and
Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Military career. Director of LSWR from
1861; Deputy Chairman, 1875; Chairman, 1892-99. Owned Laverstoke Bank Note
Paper Mills. Created a baronet in 1901. Who Was Who.
Porter, George Richardson
Born in London in 1792. Educated at Merchant Taylor's. Traded in sugar
and wine. Joined Board of Trade statistical department and eventually took
charge of railway department. He was one of the Five Kings under the chairmanship
of Dalhousie. He was a founder member of the Statistical Society. He died
on 3 September 1852 in Tunbridge Wells. Henry
Parris entry in ODNB.
Potter, Frank
General Manager of GWR in succession to James Inglis who died in December
1911. Born in 1856. Joined GWR in 1869 as a lad in the Goods Department at
Paddington. In 1904 he became chief assistant to Inglis
in 1904. On Inglis' death Potter succeeeded, but he in turn died in St
Ives on 23 July 1919: "worn out by the strain and anxieties of the last four
years" (of WW1). He had been a member of the Railway Executive Committee
during WW1. He in turn was succeeded by Charles
Aldington. McDermot History of
the Great Western Railway rev. Clinker
Ramsden, James
Originally employed by the Furness Railway as its
Locomotive Superintendent eventually became
General Manager.
Richards, R.M.T.
Traffic Manager, Southern Railway. Encountered in
Kevin Robertson's Leader: the full
story being credited with being the accidental instrument leading
towards the Leader class: he wished for a modern tank engine to replace the
M7 class used for empty stock movements into and out of Waterloo. The M7
class soldiered on until replaced by BR standard types!
Robertson, [General Sir] Brian Hubert
Born Simla, India, 22 July 1896. His father was Field Marshal Sir
William Robertson, the first ranker to reach Field Marshal. Educated Charterhouse
School and Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. Commissioned into Royal Engineers
in 1914. During WW1 served in France winning the MC, three mentions in dispatches
and DSO. In 1935 became managing director of Dunlop, South Africa. During
WW2 he was recalled as a reserve officer in the South African forces. He
became a successful military administrator, and following the War he was
the military administrator responsible for restoring the economic, social,
and political life of West Germany for five years at a time which included
the blockade of Berlin. In 1950 Robertson became commander-in-chief middle
east land forces, but in 1953 he became chairman of the British Transport
Commission. Here he was under insistent but diverse political pressures.
In 1961 he was created Baron Robertson of Oakridge. He did not suffer fools
gladly and he could be daunting; but those who penetrated this carapace found
affection, kindness, and a sense of fun, particularly apparent with the young,
with whom he liked to relax in strenuous outdoor sports. He was a natural
leader, and an able linguist and public speaker, endowed with a brilliant
analytical brain He had a strong Christian faith, and a deep sense
of loyalty to his country. Robertson died on 29 April 1974 at Far Oakridge,
Gloucestershire. Charles Richardson
(ODNB).
There is an excellent biography (Robert Humm's assessment) A Most Dipomatic
General by David Williamson (Brasseys 1996). This has a long chapter
on his spell at the BTC.
Bonavia (British Rail: the first
25 years) succinctly summarised Sir Brian Robertson arrival to preside
over the assortment of businesses, some vast in scale, which the Transport
Act of 1953 had put directly under the Commission, the first reaction of
the staff was that now a real leader had appeared. Sir Brian was a man of
commanding presence and great integrity, expecting and receiving respect.
Some mistook his icy manner (based upon shyness) for arrogance. C.K. Bird,
when General Manager of the Eastern Region, once observed to some of his
officers: 'The Chairman is the most fairminded and impartial man I have ever
met. He hates us all equally'. CKB's mordant wit had led him into misjudgment.
Sir Brian expected complete loyalty from those who worked with him; he did
not necessarily look for intellectual brilliance. The nearest thing to a
twinkle in the Chairman's eye that some of us ever saw was when, describing
in military 'briefing' style the new organisation at headquarters, he remarked:
'And Sir Reginald Wilson will now become a Commission Member pure if not
simple'.
Robertson, Thomas
Died on 17 June 1906 aged 70. Born at Auchtergaven, Perthshire. Special
Government Commissioner for Railways, Indian Empire. Formerly Superintendent
of the Highland Railway 1875-90, General Manager of the Great Northern Railway
(Ireland) 1890-6 and Chairman Board of Public Works, Ireland 1896-1901. Brief
obituary Locomotive Mag., 1906,
12, 125, which notes that he had visited the United States and
Canada travelling over 75,000 miles in connection with his mission to India
where he advocated the establishmnet of a Railway Board. (remainder Who
Was Who).
Roebuck, William Richardson
Acquired the Treffry estate in 1870 "having
arrived in Cornwall from London in 1870 with a large fortune"
(Rly Arch., 2009 (22) 4 et
seq. Set about converting Treffry's system of tramways into the Cornwall
Minerals Railway. Established headquarters at St Blazey with roundhouse to
service six-coupled back-to-back locomotives, some of which were to eventually
work on the Lynn & Fakenham Railway. Many of the works were constructed
by Sir Morton Peto, and the collapse of the
mineral industry led to the financial ruin of Peto.
Royden, Sir Thomas
Born in Liverpool on 22 May 1871 into a family of shipowners. Educated
at Winchester and Magdalen College, Oxford. He was a director of many companies
including Cunard; the LYR LNWR and LMS. In 1941 he succeeded Stamp as Chairman
of the LMS. Died at Alresford on 6 November 1950.
ODNB entry by F.A. Bates revised by Adrian
Jarvis. Several mentions of him in
Terry Jenkins Sir Ernest
Lemon. Nock A history of
the LMS. Pearson Man of the rail
p. 94 notes that In 1946 Lord Royden retired from the chairmanship
of the L.M.S. and was succeeded by Sir Robert Burrows. Royden was very old
when in the emergency of Stamp's death in 1941 he succeeded him. For all
that he was a remarkable person in a negative kind of way. He was utterly
undemonstrative, with, apparently, little sense of humour, and his approach
to business was matter of fact and ice cold. He tackled difficult staff problems
at the top without any sign of emotion. Men like Arthur Towle and Lemon left
during his period of office, and although both were considerable personalities,
I never saw Royden at all disturbed. He used to say to me when I had been
reporting something difficult to him (and I had included the words 'I am
afraid,') 'What are you afraid of-if it is so it is so.' I doubt if Royden
was afraid of anything or anyone. I never saw anyone more economical of effort
and nervous energy. Perhaps that is why he lived to his nineties.
Royle, Thomas Wright
Born 27 September 1882; died 17 July 1969. He joined Lancashire &
Yorkshire Railway in 1898; was Confidential Assistant to Superintendent of
the Line in connection with Railway Executive Committee work, from 1914;
Assistant Superintendent of the Line, Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway,
1919; Assistant Divisional General Superintendent, Northern Division, LNWR,
1922; Assistant General Superintendent, Western Division, LMSR, 1923; Assistant
Chief Commercial Manager, LMSR, 1932; Chief Assistant Commercial Manager,
LMSR, 1935; Chief Operating Manager, LMSR; 1938; Vice-President LMSR, 1944-47
(appointment 31 August 1944:
Locomotive
Mag, 1944, 50,
139.). He briefly became Deputy Chief Regional Officer of the LMR,
but retired in 1948.Lt-Col, Engineer and Railway Staff Corps, 1938; Pres.
Institute of Transport, 1947-48. Paper on modernisation of railway
shunting presented to Railway Students Association.
Locomotive Mag. 1940, 46,
136. Co-patentee of ash ejector fitted to Jubilee class locomotive.
GB 518507 Improvements in ejecting means for ashes and like materials
from enclosed spaces such as smoke boxes. Applied 27 August 1938; published
28 February 1940. Mentioned in Terry
Jenkins Sir Ernest Lemon.
See Whitehouse and St John Thomas'
LMS 150 page 37 for photographic and pen portaits of Royle. Skelsey
nentions him in connection with post-war planning for Liverpool in
Backtrack, 2021, 35, 544
.
Rusholme, Lord (Robert Alexander
Palmer)
Born on 29 November 1890; died 18 August 1977. Educated St. Mary's
School, Heaton Mersey. Senior official within Co-operative Union and created
a peer by the Post-WW2 Labour Government. Member of the British Transport
Commission from 1947 to 1959 and of the London Midland Region Area Board
from 1955 to 1960. Bonavia (The
first 25 years) called him a helpful Mancunian, practical and affable
by nature, but with no special knowledge of transport.
Sackville, Lord (Arthur Cecil)
Arthur Cecil; born in 1848, brother of then Prime Minster; whilst
at Cambridge had travelled with footplate crews and guards of GER trains;
worked in shops at Stratford. Assistant Traffic Manager, GER; Carriage Dept
of GNR at Doncaster, and lastly General Manager, Metropolitan District Railway.
Rly Mag., 2, 282
(obituary)
Salisbury, 3rd Marquis of
(Cecil, Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne)
Chairman of the Great Eastern from 1868-1871: took the railway out
of Chancery and the Company was able to pay a small dividernd on its ordinary
shares. Publicly stated that the Liverpool Street extension was "one of the
greatest mistakes ever committed in connection with a railway." Also
co-arbitrator, with Lord Cairns on finances of LCDR (award 24 February 1871).
Allen, C.J.: The Great Eastern
Railway
Scott Damant: Rly Mag.,
1, 571
Born at Hatfield House on 3 February 1830; died there on 22 August
1903. Member of the hugely influential Salisbury family. Educated at Eton
and eventual Prime Minister. Paul Smith in a tediously long ODNB entry notes
that: "Although in 1866 he was seriously embarrassed by the Overend Gurney
crash, he had enough business acumen to make a successful chairman of the
beleaguered Great Eastern Railway Company from 1868 to 1872."
Allen relates "Curiously enough the
Marquis of Salisbury, after succeeding to the chairmanship, publicly stated
that in his opinion" what was done in 1865 was one of the greatest mistakes
ever Committed in connection with a railway", the ground of this pessimism
being the weak financial position of the G.E.R. at that time in relation
to a project which was bound to prove extremely costly. .
Sarle, [Sir] Allen Lanyon
Sarle was born at Westness, Rousay, Orkney, of Cornish parentage in
14 November 1828. He died on 4 June 1903. He was educated at Selkirk Grammar
School and the High School in Edinburgh. He was a junior clerk in the office
of an Edinburgh stockbroker. In 1848 he moved to the London office of the
Shropshire Union Railway Company and when this amalgamated with the LNWR
he moved to the Audit Office of the London & Brighton Railway. In 1854
he became the Accountant and in 1867 the Secretary and in 1885 the
Secretary/General Manager. The function was divided again in 1898. He was
knighted in 1896. In 1867 there was a financial crisis on the LBSCR and all
the executive officers, other tha Sarle, were forced to resign. Samuel Laing
MP and a new Board were appointed and they developed the company to become
highly profitable. He would appear to be an excellent candidate for a full
biography. Partly based on Who Was Who material. Was on Board of the Mersey
Railway: see A. Jarvis, Rly
Wld., 1986, 47, 211.
Saunders, Charles Alexander
Ellis (p. 66)
describes him as "one of the greatest secretaries in railway
history". The position (Secretary and General Superintendent of the Great
Western Railway) amounted to that of general manager, but without jurisdiction
over the engineer. Saunders was older than Brunel, had been a Civil Servant
on the mercantile side in Mauritius, and was at first Secretary to the London
Committee. He retired in September 1863 and died in the following September
(22-09-1864). An amazing omission from ODNB.
Nock, O.S. Railway enthusuast's
encyclopedia.
Saunders, Frederick
Born 24 December 1820. Appointed as Assistant Secretary to the South
Wales Railway in 1844, becoming Chief Secretary in 1849. When his uncle,
Charles Saunders retired as Secretary to the Great Western in 1863, Frederick
filled his place and when he resigned from this post in June 1886, he was
made a Director of the company. Succeeding Gooch in 1889, he retired in June
1895 although he remained a member of the Board until his death at Reading
on 1 January 1901. Great Western Railway Trust website
Savin, Thomas
Born Llwynymaen in 1826 and died in Oswestry on 23 July 1889:
Marshall. The promotion of the Oswestry
& Newtown Railway was a joint affair between the local land owners, the
better-off tradesmen, and the contractors. In the case of all the early Cambrian
lines the party of the third part was Thomas Savin, at this time in partnership
with David Davies. Not only did they actively promote
the railways, but they became involved with the financing of them, and for
a time operated them on lease. Kidner: Cambrian Railways. Not in ODNB
but mentioned in Kenneth O. Morgan excellent entry for David Davies..
Scott, Finlay Forbes
Born in 1860; orphaned in 1871. His father had been an officer on
the LBSCR and the company offered him employment. He was station master at
several locations and in 1907 was made Superintendent of the Line.
Dawn Smith
Scotter, Sir Charles
Born in Norwich, on 22 October 1835 (date given in Who
Was Who) son of a cabinet maker who was sent to the debtors' prison in
Norwich Castle in November 1841, and when released in March 1842 moved to
Holt in North Norfolk and then moved to Hull where Scotter joined the staff
of the Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway as a receiving clerk
in the Goods Department where most of the traffic was handled by ferry. In
1856 he married Annie Wilkinson. In 1860 he was promoted to Clerk-in-Charge
of the Passenger Deparment at Hull. In 1866 he was promoted to be
Continental Agent at the Company's Headquarters in Manchester charged
with developing traffic through Grimsby. In 1872 he became Assistant Goods
Manager and within a year Goods Manager.
(see Ron Strutt, Backtrack. 2014,
28, 198). Scotter became General Manager of the LSWR in March
1885 and remained in that post until he became Chairman of the Board between
1904 and 1910 when he died on 13 December. He was largely
responsible for the LSWR acquiring Southampton Docks, of developing the privilege
ticket system and of encouraging traffic to Bournemouth.
Scotter's later career is covered by Strutt
in Backtrack, 28, 308: this includes moves to limit competition
and reduce operating costs between the Great Western and South Western Railways.
He was a Lt Col in the Railway Engineer and Volunteer Staff Corps and a Chevalier
of the Legion of Honour. Strutt argues that the
Railway Magazine 1, 385
Illustrated Interview) colours his career and many of the obituaries
favoured "Hull" as his place of birth thus avoiding the taint of
Norwich.
Selbie, Robert Hope
General Manager, Metropolitan Railway. Son of Rev. R.W. Selbie of
Salford. Born 1868. Educated Manchester Grammar School and Owens College
of Victoria University, Manchester. Joined L&YR where he rose to position
of Assistant to Traffic Manager. Became Secretary to Metropolitan Railway
in June 1903. Died 17 May 1930 (Who Was Who and
Ovenden who calls him saviour
of railway). See Rly Mag., 1908,
23, 336 (includes port). Memorial
see Humm J. Rly Canal Hist. Soc.,
2015, 38, 252.
Selway, C.J.
In 1892 joined office of Superintendent of the Line, Great Northern
Railway, In 1914 became Superintendent of the Line
(Dawn Smith).
Sims, William Unwin
Chairman Great Western. Death by suicide late 1839.
Ellis
Slim, General Sir William Joseph
Born in Bishopstone, near Bristol on 6 August 1891. Educated at St
Philip's Catholic School in Edgbaston and King Edward's School in Birmingham.
Joined Royal Warwickshire Regiment in 1914: served in Gallipoli Camapaign
where was wounded and awarded MC. Professional soldier in India between the
Wars. Brilliant Burma Campaign during WW2. Briefly Deputy Chairman of the
Railway Executive before becoming Chief of Imperial General Staff and then
Governor General of Australia. Died 14 December 1970. Funeral St George's
Chapel, Windsor. Author of Defeat into Victory (1956) and Unofficial History
(1959). Raymond Callahan ODNB
entry.
Speakman, Lionel
Educated at Cheltenham College. Entered service with LNWR, 1896; District
Goods Manager at Liverpool from 1902, Wo1verhampton from 1911, Birmingham
from January 1914. Outdoor Goods Manager, Northern Division (at Liverpool),
LNWR from May 1914. General Manager, Furness Railway from 15th April 1918.
Retired from railway May 1923. (Peter
Robinson, Backtrack, 2005, 19, 763).
Speir, Malcolm Scott
Currie (Northern Counties Railway,
v 2) states that Speir was born on 6 February 1887 into an old Scottish
family and was educated at Radley. He joined the Midland Railway at Derby
and was sent to America in 1909/10 to study railway management there. On
return he joined the Caledonian Railway. He was awarded the Military Cross
during WW1 and according to Currie was a tall, spare, dynamic man. Rutherford
notes that he used the title Major following the WW1. Between 1931 and 1941
Speir was General Manager of the Northern Counties Committee in Northern
Ireland. On 31 March 1941 he returned to Scotland as Chief Officer of the
LMS in Scotland on a salary of £3,500 per annum when J. Ballantyne retired..
(LMS Journal, 2008 (22),
80). His period in Ulster was associated with a dynamic approach during
a difficult economic period: this included the introduction of colour light
signalling and high speed operation on single lines. Currie notes that the
2-6-0 type was due to him and these were used on the North Atlantic Express
between Belfast and Portrush.
Scott notes that Speir eased
out Hugh Stewart and records that Speir was a workaholic.. No. 90 was named
Duke of Abercorn after it had hauled the Governor General's train
to open the Greenisland loop started by his predecessor Pepper. Nock in
Out the line notes that he was
full of energy and a great Christian gentleman. On the NCC he was succeeded
(Locomotive Mag., 1941,
47, 31) by what must have been regarded as strangely
named Frank Pope. .See also
Chris Aspinwall.
Speyer. Sir Edgar
Born New York on 7 September 1862: German Jewish origins. Moved to
London in 1887. Financed railways, including London Underground. Naturalized
British in 1892. During WW1 accused of pro-German activities and fled to
USA. His British nationality was revoked in 1921. Died in Berlin on 16 February
1932. Built large house on cliffs at Overstrand in Norfolk, still extant
as hotel, where accused of signalling to German submarines.
ODNB biography by Theo Barker.
See also Stephen Halliday's Fraud, liquidation
and ingratitude. Backtrack, 2008, 22, 437.
Antony Lentin. Banker, traitor, scapegoat,
spy? The troublesome case of Sir Edgar Speyer; an episode of the Great War.
(London: Haus, 2013). KPJ wonders if the Overstrand loop was constructed
to provide smooth transit from London to Overstrand for Speyer and his friends.
Stafford, John Herman
Joined L&YR in 1849 in Secretary's Office, became Secretary in
1875 and General Manager in1890. See Rly Mag.,
2, 97. Retirement: Rly
Mag., 1899, 4, 510.
Stalbridge, Lord
Richard de Aquila Grosvenor, fourth son of the Marquis of Westminster,
was born on 28 January 1837. He was educated at Westminster School and Cambridge.
He was MP (Liberal) for Flintshire and was created a Privy Councillor in
1872. He succeeded Moon as Chairman of the LNWR, and in turn handed over
to Claughton in 1911, having retired in the February. He died on 18 May 1912
in London. See M.C. Reed who stated that
Stalbridge was "no stranger to the footplate" Biddle wrote entry in
Oxford Companion which noted that Stalbridge
was strong advocate for Channel Tunnel. ODNB entry A.C. Bell revised C.G.
Matthew. LNWR Society Journal, 2012..
Steel, Charles
Born 1847; died 4 November 1925. General Manager, GNR 1898-1902; formerly
Manager of Highland Railway, 1897-8. Who Was Who..
Stirling, John of
Kippendavie
Born in 1811 (Ellis North
British Railway) who beacame Laird of Kippendavie when aged five.
Chairman of the Scottish North Eastern Railway and subsequently of the North
British Railway in 1866 which according to Ellis he rejuvenated. Died in
1882. Cattenach North British Railway
Study Gp. J. (105), p. 11.
John Thomas (North British)
claimed that the Railway Times (full source not given) stated
that Kippendavie's approach to the Caledonian Railway was like a "dog returning
to its vomit". He was eager for the two companies to amalgamate and achieved
the approval of both Boards for this in November 1871, but this was thwarted
by John Montieth Douglas, an accountant and shareholder, who showed that
the finances relating to the Caledonian Railway given to the NBR Board members
had not been approved by the CR. See also
David Stirling's The rise of the NB. NBR
Study Group J., No. 71, 32. McKean
Battle for the North shows his remarkable chameleon qualities
on the const ruction and desstruction of the Tay Bridge. Remarkably not in
Oxford Dictionary of English National Biography..
Sutherland, Duke of (third)
George Granville William Leveson-Gower
(Marshall files him unnder italicised
portion) was born on 18 December 1828 probably at Trentham (becoming the
Marquis of Stafford). P.J.G. Ransom's Narrow
gauge steam paints a sympathetic picture of the Duke's
contributions to railway history whereas Eric Richards
(ODNB) portrays him as a playboy who lived
off his ancestors' infamous Highland clearances.
P.J.G. Ransom's The Mont Cenis Fell Railway
shows the deep financial involvement in this short-lived venture
(the tunnel killed off the narrow gauge line over the pass) and on page 53
shows how Stroudley designed a Fell type locomotive
for the Duke. The Duke died at the aptly-named Dunrobin Castle on 22 September
1892. He was a Director of the LNWR and of the Highland Railway. He appears
to have been a Pupil of J.E. McConnell at Wolverton where he learned how
to drive a locomotive: he subsequently drove many famous people to Dunrobin
Castle. Eric Richards ODNB biography notes
some of railway foibles (denies the Highland Railway its identity through
failure to use inititial capitals. See
also Alan A. Jackson article in J. Rly Canal Hist. Soc., 2003, 34,
370 which shows that Duke was probably subject of gentle parody by
Gilbert and Sullivan.
Taylor, G.R.T.
Chairman of the Locomotive Committee, LMS Board.
Bond.
Thompson family of Brampton
James Thompson became Lord Carlisle's agent in 1819 for his collieries
near Brampton (the Lord was solely interested in his mines as a minor source
of income). Members of family later leased collieries and railway from Lord
Carlisle near Brampton: Charles Lacy Thompson lived
1857 to 1920. Brother James lived 1859 to 1899. Father Thomas Charles
Thompson, Stephen Harry
Land-owner: director of York & North Midland Railway. Chairman
of North Eastern Railway from 1855 until his death in 1874. Quietly dismissed
William O'Brien, General Manager in 1871. Dawn
Smith.
Thompson, James
Born in Kirtlebridge in 1835. Died 9 June 1906. Educated Carlisle
Grammar School and entered Caledonian Railway as a lad in 1848. By 1856 he
was the chief clerk in the Goods Manager's office in Glasgow. In 1865 he
was promoted to be a district officer in Edinburgh. Knighted in 1897. Responsible
for abolishing second class and increasing passenger comfort. In 1866 he
returned to Glasgow as Manager of the Western & Southern Districts. In
1870 he advanced to be General Goods Manager and in 1882 he became General
Manager. He justified the heavy capital cost of the Glasgow Central Railway.
Resigned 31 January 1900, but joined Board and became Chairman,
(SLS Caledonian Railway centenary).
See Railway Magazine Illustrated
Interview. 1, 289. Long entry in Grace's Guide: presumably recent
literature, such as David Ross and Summerson on Caledonian Railway must give
more. Times obituary was useful. The end of the Grace's piece is added
below:
On 27 May, 1898, he was presented with his portrait by the late Sir John
Watson of Earnock, in name of a number of influential gentlemen and admiring
friends. Social and jovial, a clever raconteur, witty and kindly, Sir James
is a general favourite wherever he goes. He has one characteristic which
links him in close fellowship with all Scotsmen worthy of the national name,
and that is his delight in the songs and poetry of Robert Burns. Scotland's
ploughman bard is to him the king of poets and prince of good fellows. It
is very rare to find a successful businessman an admirer of poetry in any
form, and perhaps the poetry of Burns least of all. Intellect, heart, humour,
and broad mind may safely be predicated of the man who gently admires Burns,
and Sir James Thompson is a conspicuous example. His keen sense of humour
saves him from that giddiness which high position frequently causes, and
specially pardonable in men who have scaled up from the lowest rung of the
social ladder. When congratulated on receiving the honour of knighthood,
he replied: "It was conferred on the general manager of the Caledonian Railway."
Early in January, 1900, Sir James Thompson voluntarily resigned the position
of general manager of the Caledonian Railway Company. The directors accepted
his resignation with reluctance, and requested him to take a seat at the
Directors' Board, so that, though deprived of his services as manager, they
might have the benefit of his counsel. Sir James agreed to an arrangement,
which was at once a high tribute to his abilities and a graceful token of
esteem.
Treffry, Joseph Thomas
Baptised Joseph Thomas Austen at St Andrew's Church, Plymouth, on
1 May 1782, and died at Place, near Fowey (where he had been Squire) on 1
May 1782.. ODNB biography by Jack Simmons
(revised Edmund Newell). Driving force behind what was to become the Cornwall
Minerals Railway under William Richardson Roebuck
to connect his mines with ports at Fowey and Newquay. Began with a canal
which connected Par Harbour with Pontsmill which connected with a railway
which involved a 1 in 10 incline worked by a water wheel to acsend the Luxulyan
Valley which it then crossed on a viaduct. The exit from Newquay Harbour
was even more steeply graded (1 in 4½) and included a tunnel followed
by the Trenance Viaduct. . MacDermot
History of the Great Western.
Turner, George Henry
Was born in Bridgewater, Somerset in 1836 and joined the railway in
1849. In 1853 he became a goods clerk on the MR at Bristol; he rose to become
Chief Clerk in Birmingham; Chief Goods Agent in Nottingham in 1875; the Chief
Goods Canvasser at Derby in 1878; the Goods Manager for the GSWR in 1880,
but returned to the same post on the MR in 1882. In 1891 he became Assistant
General Manager and in the following year General Manager. He was a JP in
the County of Derby and Colonel in the Engineer & Railway Volunteer Corps.
Railway Magazine Illustrated Interview
1, 97.
Vivian, Hugh (Captain)
Born in 1884; died 17 July 1956. Member of Cornish family which had
moved to Swansea to establish copper smelting works and came of a family
associated with the industrial development of South Wales for over 140 years,
having founded the Copper Works at Swansea in 1810 Educated at Uppingham
and the Universities of Hanover (where he studied locomotive engineering
under Von Borries) and Freiburg, taking degrees in mechanical engineering
and metallurgy with first class honours. In 1909, he became Technical Manager
of Vivian & Sons Ltd., of Swansea, of which company he was appointed
Assistant General Manager in 1918, and Managing Director in 1922. He was
appointed a director of Beyer, Peacock & Co. Ltd., in 1934 and became
Acting Chairman of that company in 1936 and Chairman the following year,
a position he held until 1949. He was a director of the Great Western Railway
Company from 1944 to 1947, and Chairman of its Locomotive Committee. He was
a director and later Chairman of Richard Garrett Engineering Works Ltd.,
and a director of Associated Electrical Industries Ltd., Briton Ferry Steel
Co. Ltd. (Consulting Director), Christy & Co. Ltd., Portals Ltd., and
other companies. He was part-time Director of the South West Division of
the National Coal Board, a member of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy,
of the Institute of Metals>. He took a leading part in the educational
life of Wales being on the Governing Body of the University of Wales and
of the National Museum of Wales, and a Member of Council of the University
College of Swansea. He became a member of the Western Area Board of the B.T.C.
in 1955. He had been a Member of the Institution of Loccomotive Engineers
since 1919. The Locomotive Mag.,
1956, 62, 173 obituary notes his charming disposition, his immense
enthusiasm for many subjects and a profound knowledge thereon. Obituary ILocoE.
See also Loco. Mag., 1924,
30, 74.
Walker, [Sir] Herbert Anscombe
Born London 15 May 1868; died London 29 September 1949. Educated North
London Collegiate School and Bruges. Joined LNWR. In 1893 made District
Superintendent, North Wales Division in 1893; in 1902 he became District
Superintendent Euston, when he visited the USA to study American practice.
In 1912 he became the General Manager of the LSWR where he instigated the
programme of electrification. He succeeded
Ree as Chairman of the Executive Committee
of General Managers to control railways on behalf of the Board of Trade during
WW1: Grant Culllen. NBRSG Journal,
2020 (141), 25. He received a knighthood in 1915. After a frustrating
year of indecision on the part of the Southern Railway's Board he was appointed
General Manager of the Southern Railway where he encouraged the electrification
programme. In this respect he was a major influence on steam locomotive
develooment, or the lack of it, on the Southern. Witness to
Weir Committee on Railway Electrification.
He retired in 1937. He was a strong advocate of the Channel Tunnel.
Marshall.
Oxford Companion (by Michael
Bonavia), an ODNB good entry by Colin
Watson who noted Walker was physically well made, having stamina and
a commanding presence. He looked what he was, a man who knew his job and
meant to do it and had a remarkable memory. and
C.F. Klapper's Sir Herbert Walker's Southern
Railway. 1972. Nock, O.S. Railway
enthusuast's encyclopedia. Stone cameo portrait in Waterloo station
(Humm J. Rly Canal Hist. Soc.,
2015, 38, 252)
Walker, Sir Robert
Born 18 March 1890: educated Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge.
herditary owner of Sand Hutton Estate (North East of York): built a 15 inch
railway, much of the equipment from which went to the Ravenglass & Eskdale
Railway. Following WW1 converted this system to 18 inch gauge to serve large
agricultural estate. Used four Hunslet 0-4-0WT locomotives from WW1 government
meat depot at Deptford (WN 1207/1916 and 1289-91/1917. Director of Derwent
Valley Light Railway. Died 11 February 1930. See
W.J.K. Davies' Light
railways.
Watkin, [Sir] Edward
Born in Salford on 26 September 1819 and died in Northenden (Manchester)
on 13 April 1901 (Marshall). Great
opponent of James Staats Forbes when they were respective
Chairmen of SER and LCDR. Meddled in locomotive affairs by the appointment
of his son as Locomotive Superintendent
of the South Eastern Railway. Builder of railway empires: creator of the
Great Central Railway. Chairman of the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire
Railway, the South Eastern Railway and the Metropolitan Railway. Sought to
construct Channel Tunnel and the Wembley Tower. See also
S.A. Griffin. Edward Watkin - an
appreciation. Backtrack, 1998, 12, 659-61.which states
that two of Watkins "unqualified successes" were the sale of the Trent Valley
Railway and the formation of the Cheshire Lines Committee. The former was
incorporated in 1845 to by-pass Birmingham and a consortium was organized
to purchase the railway which in turn led to the formation of the LNWR in
1846. The latter was created by the MSLR and the GNR in 1862 and the Midland
joined in 1866. The usual tale of Watkin's dream of a Manchester to Paris
railway aided by his Chairmanship of the MSLR, SER and Metropolitan Railway
is told, as is its progress being thwarted by Forbes of the LCDR and MDR.
Watkin's last great venture was in West Lancashire where he attempted to
reach Blackpool, partly by extending the Cheshire Lines Extension Railway
(to Southport) over the West Lancashire Railway and partly by the North West
Central Railway from the GNR Keighley branch to Penwortham Junction outside
Preston via Colne. See letters in volume 13 (page 109) by
Kidner, (illus on page 661 is of Metropolitan
District Railway not as stated and SER did not run Pullman cars -
they owned American-type cars purchased in 1891).Braine
(Relationship between Moon and Watkin (plus attributions of statements
challenged), and especially of sale of Trent Valley Railway), and
Hodgins [Forbes and Channel Tunnel, sale of
Trent Valley Railway, and lines to Blackpool. (Writer was working on biography
of Watkin)].and reply to these by author on page
221. illus.: Photograph; Sir Edward Watkin; also Dow's Great Central
and David Hodgkins The second railway
king: the life and times of Sir Edward Watkin 1891-1901. Cardiff:
Merton Priory Press, 2002.
http://www.watkins.net.au/
. Geoff Scargill, Victorias railway
king. .Barnsley: Frontline Books (Pen & Sword), 2021. It is
appropriate to note that the Railway Magazine called Watkin the "Railway
Czar" in his obituary Death of the railway king [Sir Edward William Watkin].
Rly Mag. 1901, 8, 411-16.
illus. (port). Nock, O.S. Railway
enthusuast's encyclopedia. Evidence of his Trump-like character emerges
in Timperley's article on the Dinting tragedy of 1855 when he accused one
of those who fell to their deaths of suicide: see
Backtrack, 2017, 31
658.
Watson, Sir Arthur
Born in Manchester on 18 September 1873. Died 13 April 1954. Educated
Manchester Grammar School and Victoria University, Manchester. Trained as
Civil Engineer and rose to be Chief Assistant Engineer to LYR 1905-10; then
became Superintendent of the Line, 1910-18; Chairman of the Superintendents'
Conference at the Railway Clearing House, London, 1915-18; Assistant General
Manager, 1918-19; General Manager, 1919-20; General Manager London and
North-Western Railway, 1921-23; First General Manager of the LMS, 1923-24.
Member of the Permanent Commission of the International Railway Association,
1922. Founder Member of Institute of Transport. Latterly much involved in
hospital management. Marshall
Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway. V. 2 and Who Was
Who.
Wemyss, Randolph Erskine
Ruthless coal baron who with the aid of Wieland
and Grierson took control of the NBR. In 1897 he constructed a new railway
to connect his mines with Methil Dock in competition with the NBR and engineered
the resignation of Conacher for "dishonest practice".
John Thomas North British
vol 2.
Whyte, James J.W.
Joined the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway in 1910: Manager
from 1931 to 1967: latterly a bus company.
Hendry:
Patterson would be better
Wieland, George
Company Secretary to NBR. Formerly employed by LNWR (not mentioned
Reed). When he resigned due to ill-health he was given a place on the Board
and with Randolph Erskine Wemyss and Grierson formed a cabal which took control
of NBR and got rid of Conacher.
Cattenach NBRSG Journal, (92), 16.
Wieland died in 1905. Thomas
North British Railway V.2.
Wilkinson, Joseph Loftus
Born in Buckinghamshire in 1845. Educated in Reading. Joined GWR as
boy clerk in 1852. Promoted as telegraph clerk, goods clerk to stationmaster
and then worked as a manager for nineteen years in the goods department.
In 1887 he beacme the goods manager of the Buenos Aires & Pacific Railway
but returned to the GWR as Goods Manager in 1887. In 1895 he became Acting
General Manager and General Manager in 1896. He regretted the departure of
the broad gauge and envisaged London to Birmingham being accomplished in
one hour. He observed the fast twin screw ships used on the Channel Islands
run, the fast Cornishman non-stop to Exeter and taking only seven
hours (and four minutes to Truro) "we firmly believe in speed"; and the new
cut-off lines via Westbury, High Wycombe (leading to a circular suburban
service via Uxbridge) and to Milford. See
Rly Mag., 1, 1. and another
feature in same volume on page 508..
McDermot History of the Great Western
Railway rev. Clinker. Purchser of nameplate off broad gauge locomotivve:
Stephen Spark letter Backtrack,
2017, 37, 637.
Willmott, Russell
Russell Willmott, engineer and manager of the SMJR was appointed secretary
and General Manager of the Isle of Wight Central Ry. in 1912, but still had
charge of the locomotive and permanent way departments of the
SMJR. Locomotive Mag., 1912,
18, 3..
Wilmot, Harold
Born 14 August 1895, died 12 May 1966. Chairman, 194965, and
Managing Director, 193860, of Beyer, Peacock & Co. Ltd, and its
subsidiary companies including Beyer Peacock (Hymek) Ltd (195865).
C.B.E., whose death occurred on 12th May 1966, had been Chairman and Managing
Director of the Beyer Peacock Group since 1949. Served in the Army in the
First World War after which he served his apprenticeship with Charles McNeil
& Co., Ltd., Glasgow. He joined Beyer Peacock & Co. in 1924 as cost
accountant and after holding several positions, rose to general manager in
1934 and managing director four years later. In 1949, the year he was elected
chairman of the company, he received his C.B.E. Wilmot had travelled widely
on behalf of his company and of the Locomotive and Allied Manufacturers'
Association, of which he was president at various times. He was also a president
of the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants from 1943 to 1946 and chairman
of the North Western Management Research Group. In 1959 he was awarded the
Bowie Medal of the British Institute of Management of which he had been chairman
from 1956 to 1958. Wilmot had been a life Fellow of the Royal Society of
Arts and he served for several years on the Council of the Federation of
British Industries (see Locomotive
Mag., 1956, 62, 163) . He had been a Member of the Institution
of Locomotive Engineers since 1939 (obituary: Journal 1966, 56,
114..
Wilson, Isaac
Born in Kendal in 1822; died in Nunthorpe Hall, Middlesbrough in 1899.
Member of Stockton & Darlington Railway's Management Committee. Co-founder
of Gilkes & Wilson, locomotive
repairer and manufacturer in Middlesbrough. See
Pearce p. 103. Eestablished the Tees Engine Works in 1844, under the
style of Gilkes, Wilson and Company, at which
place a large number of the locomotives used on the Stockton and Darlington
Railway were built. Responsible for developing Tees as major port.
Wintour, E.R.
General Manager Weston & Clevedon Light Railway; formerly similar
position on Severn & Wye Railway at Lydney.
See Rly Mag., 1901, 8,
524.
Wood, William Valentine
Born on 14 February 1883. Died 26 August 1959. Educated Methodist
College, Belfast (Who was Who). Sir
William Valentine Wood (taken from LMS 150 and possibly written
by D.S.M. Barrie) ('Willie Wood' to colleagues on the railway, 'Val'
to family and close friends) had never anticipated becoming president. When
Stamp was killed on that dreadful night of 16 April 1941, Wood was shattered.
He broke the news to the Railway Executive Committee with an emotion very
strange to his quiet nature. He must have felt daunted by the need to follow
such an outstanding figure.
Wood was smallish, clean-shaven, with strong glasses that gave him a slightly owlish expression, though he had a quiet, rather quizzical smile. You never saw him or hardly ever without a cigarette in his mouth. This combined with a very low voice, rapid speech and a strong Ulster brogue to make communication rather difficult, unless you knew him well and could guess in which way his quicksilver mind was working.
He had started on the Midland's NCC as an accountant, at which work
he was supreme. But he was also interested, and rapidly became knowledgeable,
in almost every aspect of railway work. He once told of a slight collision
in which an NCC locomotive had been involved ; 'actually', he said
with that delightful twinkle, 'I was driving the engine'.
In the 1914-18 war he was involved in Government work and when
Sir Eric Geddes' Ministry of Transport was created
in 1919 he became its first director of finance. There he began a long friendship
with Sir Cyril Hurcomb, later the first chairman of
the British Transport Commission, who had the highest regard for him. He
returned to the railway to rise through the accountancy side of the LMS and
eventually became vice president (finance and services). Here he made a wonderful
two-man team with Stamp, dealing with all the economic
and financial aspects of the railway. He wrote
90 per cent of the short volume Railways, officially a
joint work with Stamp.
His speed at juggling with numbers was legendary. Quote almost any
figure to him and he would whip out an old-fashioned calculating machine
from the top drawer of his desk and rapidly convert it into something else
; a price per ton of engine weight, a weight per mile of fishplates
.
His points in discussion could be difficult to ascertain because of
his speed and inaudibility but on paper he was formidable. Every one
on the LMS respected Willie Wood those who knew him personally were
deeply attached to him. He should have retired at nationalisation, instead
of accepting Hurcomb's pressing invitation to soldier on: his last five years
were an anti-climax after a long and happy life on the
railway..Hendry presents a sharp verbal portrait
noting that he was "an analyst rather than an ideas man". His name appears
frequently in the index of Terry
Jenkins Sir Ernest Lemon, but there does not appear to have been
much interaction between Wood and Lemon.
A.J. Pearson: Sir William Wood
was trained on the Northern Counties Committee in Ireland, where he became
accountant. The N.C.C. was originally the Belfast & Northern Counties
Railway and was taken over by the Midland in 1903. Wood was of medium height,
well set, wore heavily-leased glasses, was very shy, spoke with a strong
Irish accent, and had a first-class creative brain. After the first world
war he was accountant to the Ministry of Transport, and from 1924 he had
been assistant accountant-general at Euston, and succeeded John Quirey as
vice-president for finance and service in 1929. He was in my view the best
English railway general manager to come out of Ireland. When Wood was first
knighted before the second world war, we had a discussion about the christian
name he should use. His names were William Valentine (the latter because
he was born on Valentine's Day and was known as Val. see also
Szlumper diaries which are severely critical
of Valentine Wood
Oxford Companion entry by Gerald Crompton
Wright, Frederick Matthew
Born 26 June 1916; died 29 June 1990. General Manager, British Railways,
Western Region and Member of British Railways (Western) Board, 197276.
Educated Rutherford College, Newcastle upon Tyne. Joined LNER, 1933. Served
with Royal Engineers during WW2. Eastern Region: Commercial Superintendent,
Great Northern Line, 1961; Divisional Manager, Doncaster, 1964; Assistant
General Manager, York, 1968; Member, BR (Eastern) Board, 1969; Deputy General
Manager, York, 1970. Who Was Who
Wright, Whitaker
His biographer (Richard Davenport-Hines)
in the ODNB calls him a speculator, but fraudster might be more accurate.
He was born in the United Kingdom on 9 February 1845, but moved to the USA
in 1866 where he became involved in mining ventures. He returned to Britain
in 1889 where he was associated with the London & Globe Finance Corporation
which funded the Waterloo & Baker Street Railway. His fraudulent activities
eventually led to his prosecution at the hands of the Solicitor General,
Edward Carson, and his sentence to penal servitude, but he died at the end
of the court case by swallowing a cyanide capsule on 26 January 1904 when
he was found to have a loaded revolver in his pocket
See also Stephen Halliday's Fraud, liquidation
and ingratitude. Backtrack, 2008, 22, 437..
Yerkes, Charles Tyson
Born in Philadelphia, USA, on 28 June 1837 and died in New York on
29 December 1905. Name rhymes wityh "turkeys". He was a financial speculator
who had made a fortune on the stock exchange by the age of 30, but was
subsequently sent to prison for embezzlement, but this did not deter his
progress for long as he subsequently became involved in investing in transport
for Chicago including the Loop elevated railway. When the going became too
hot there he moved to London in the 1890s and joined with
Edgar Speyer and Robert William
Perks to invest in the London Undergroud system, notably by electrifying
the District line and by financing the completion of the tube lines.
ODNB biography by Theo Barker.
See also Stephen Halliday's Fraud, liquidation
and ingratitude. Backtrack, 2008, 22, 437. and
Tim Sherwood's Charles Tyson Yerkes: the
traction king of London. 2008.
Updated: 2023-01-11