- Ghana Railways and HarboursBiographyBiography
Ghana Railways and Harbours Company began in 1928 as a state-owned company which maintained the country’s railways and the port of Takoradi. In 1957, Gold Coast Railway became Ghana Railway after Ghana became an independent nation from the United Kingdom. In 1972, the company was divided into four separate public organisations: Ghana Railway Company (GRC), Ghana Port Authority (GPA), Ghana Cargo Handling Company (GCHC), Takoradi Lighterage Company (TLC).
- Locomotive and Allied Manufacturers' AssociationBiographyBiography
Locomotive and Allied Manufacturers' Association (LAMA) was founded in 1957 when the preceding association Locomotive Manufacturers' Association (1875-1957) was widened to include and promote manufacturers of all forms of rolling stock.
LAMA was superseded by the Railway Industry Association (RIA) in 1971 to include all parts of the railway supply industry.
- Kadoorie, Lawrence (CBE)BiographyBiography
Baron Lawrence Kadoorie (1899–1993), businessman, was born Lawrence Kelly on the 2nd June 1899 in Upper Richmond Road, Hong Kong as the eldest of the three sons of Sir Elly Kadoorie (1867–1944) and Laura Samuel (d. 1919). The Kadoories, a Sephardi Jewish family, emigrated originally from Baghdad to Hong Kong in 1880. The family moved to England in 1910, but Sir Elly returned to Shanghai in 1911. Meanwhile, the youngest son having died in infancy, Lawrence and his brother Horace attended school at Ascham St Vincents, Eastbourne, and at Clifton College in Bristol. In 1914 they ventured to Banff, Canada, for a family reunion and when unable to return to England the boys continued on to Shanghai and its cathedral school.
After their mother died in 1919 the two brothers took on the responsibility of building up the Kadoorie name in Asia. While Horace in Shanghai ran the family home Marble Hall, Lawrence, after studying law at Lincoln's Inn became an aide-de-camp to his father.
After returning to settle in Hong Kong in the 1930s Kadoorie became chairman of the family-managed China Light and Power Company (CLP) and the prestigious Peninsula Hotel. On the 9th November 1938 he married Muriel (b. 1915), daughter of David Gubbay of Hong Kong. With the fall of Hong Kong in 1941 they, with their infant son and daughter, were interned by the Japanese in Stanley Camp, but in 1942 the family were transferred to Shanghai, living with relatives until they were interned in Chapei (Zhabei) Camp.
Kadoorie returned to Hong Kong in November 1945 and took charge of China Light and Power. The supply of electric power aided the recovery and development of Kowloon and the New Territories. Following objections to the tariff rates the 1959 report of a British-led commission of inquiry included a recommendation for nationalization. Nationalization, however, had not been the Hong Kong government's intention; instead tariffs and dividends were frozen, Lawrence came to timely financial arrangements with Esso (then Standard Oil, NJ), and together they worked out a government-agreed scheme of control. Indeed, China Light and Power's capacity grew from 19.5 mW in 1946 to 2656 mW in 1981; consumers increased from 24,000 to 949,000; and issued capital from HK$13.2 million to HK$2400 million, confirming the ability of a private sector, family-led utility both to provide the essential leadership and to keep vital supplies just ahead of the growing demands of Hong Kong's economic revolution.
Lawrence Kadoorie acted as the chairman of Sir Elly Kadoorie & Sons and was a member of the colony's legislative and executive councils. He held in all some 14 chairmanships, 20 directorships, and 20 memberships in important Hong Kong committees and/or companies, including the general committee of the Hong Kong general chamber of commerce and government planning and advisory committees. The most notable were his leadership in Nanyang Cotton Mill Ltd, Hong Kong Carpet Manufacturing Co., and Schroders Asia Ltd. In 1957 he was invited to become a director of the Hongkong Bank but was pressured to resign in 1967 when the British Bank of the Middle East (owned by the Hongkong Bank) became a target of riots. He retained a life chairmanship of China Light and oversaw notable Hong Kong landmarks such as the Peak Tram and the Hong Kong and Shanghai hotels.
Lawrence Kadoorie was a business taipan and adviser and he was well-known for his humanitarianism and philanthropic contributions. Lawrence, with his brother Horace, founded the Kadoorie Agricultural Aid Association to improve conditions for villagers and encourage development in the New Territories. Kadoorie was a member of the University of Hong Kong's council and court and a trustee and chairman of Hong Kong's Ohel Leah Synagogue. He was a justice of the peace from 1936 and accumulated honours including the Ramón Magsaysay award (of the Philippines, 1962), appointment as CBE (1969), a knighthood (1974), and appointment as commander of the Légion d'honneur (of France, 1982). Lawrence was chairman of the Hong Kong Photographic Society, patron of St John Ambulance, had an interest in sports cars and collected Chinese works of art, in particular jade.
In 1981 Lawrence Kadoorie was the first native of Hong Kong to be awarded a British life peerage. With negotiations proceeding relating to the retrocession of Hong Kong in 1997, Kadoorie later argued for measures to ensure the retention of British citizenship for the non-Chinese minority. Following six years of negotiations in 1985 he supported a joint project between China Light and China for the first nuclear plant at nearby Daya Bay, Hong Kong.
Kadoorie's health declined in 1993 and he died following chemotherapy treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and cancer on 25 August 1993. Lawrence Kadoorie was buried on the 27th in the Jewish cemetery Happy Valley in Hong Kong.
- London & North Western Railway CoBiographyBiography
The London & North Western Railway Co (LNWR) was established in 1846 following the amalgamation of the London & Birmingham, Manchester & Birmingham and Grand Junction Railways. The new company was the largest joint stock company in Britain, and initially had a network of approximately 350 miles (560 km) connecting London with Birmingham, Crewe, Chester, Liverpool and Manchester.
The LNWR continued to expand and by 1868 the company had added links to Oxford, Cambridge, Leeds, Swansea and Cardiff. However, attempts to amalgamate with Midland Railway ended in failure. By 1871 the London & North Western Railway employed 15,000 people. As part of the 1923 Grouping the LNWR became a constituent of the London, Midland and Scottish (LMS) Railway.
- British Rail: Southern RegionBiographyBiography
Railways in Britain were nationalised under the terms of the Transport Act 1947 which came into effect on 1 January 1948. The Act created the British Transport Commission and the Railway Executive. The Act vested the business and assets of the then existing railway companies in the British Transport Commission. The Railway Executive, a corporate body subordinate to the British Transport Commission, was created to manage and operate the railways. It divided them into six geographical regions, largely based on the areas served by the pre-nationalisation railway companies, one of which was Southern Region.
It comprised the railway operations in England and Wales of the former Southern Railway Company. Although several lines previously belonging to former railway companies were transferred to it, notably sections of the former Great Western Railway lines to Weymouth, the Midland & South West Junction between Grafton and Burbage, the Didcot Newbury & Southampton between Newbury and Windsor, and the Reading – Basingstoke and Westbury – Salisbury lines, in an attempt to remove “penetrating lines”, Southern Region kept the line from Exeter to Barnstaple and Ilfracombe, which ran through Western Region territory. This line was transferred to Western Region in 1963. Some of its commuter services and lines were transferred to London Underground.
Although several branch lines closed during its existence, Southern Region, with its heavy-used passenger services, did not experience closures on the scale of other regions.
Southern Region served south London, southern England and the south coast as far west as Exeter. There were three aspects to its services: those in the London commuter areas of Kent, Sussex and Surrey, its long-distance services to the West Country from Waterloo station and its international service by rail ferry jointly with SNCF (French state railways). Much of the commuter network had been electrified by Southern Region’s predecessor companies on the third-rail 660 volt direct current system. Although British Railways’ policy was to electrify on the overhead 25000 volt alternating current system, Southern Region extended its third-rail electrification in the 1960s and 1970s.
Between 1948 and 1953 the regional manager was responsible to the Railway Executive for day to day operations in his region. After the Railway Executive was abolished in 1953, he reported to the British Transport Commission. In 1963, the British Transport Commission itself was abolished and replaced by British Railways Board. Between 1963 and 1968 Southern Region was a statutory board in accordance with the provisions of the Transport Act 1962, subordinate to and reporting to British Railways Board. It ceased to be a statutory board in 1968, following reorganisation of the railways’ business along functional lines. The name survived until 1992 when the railways were privatised.
- Institution of Mechanical EngineersBiographyBiography
The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) was established in Birmingham in 1847 with the purpose of giving "an impulse to invention likely to be useful to the world". Its work over the years has included administration of professional membership, administration of exams and issue of qualifications, and supporting the recognition of mechanical engineering through the Engineering Heritage Awards.
The Institution’s first meetings were held at the Queen’s Hotel in Birmingham, with larger Ordinary Meetings held at the Philosophical Institution’s lecture theatre, located on Cannon Street. Although the IMechE entered into a year-long lease for holding Council meetings in the Temple Buildings, more room was needed. The Secretary, William Prime Marshall, found premises that provided residential accommodation for himself, plus a meeting room, library and an additional room for the Institution’s use. The IMechE signed a three-year lease on 54 Newhall Street, Birmingham.
The Institution held its first London meeting in 1851 at the Society of Arts’ Adelphi Rooms. The Newhall Street building remained the permanent base for the Institution for 14 years, with Ordinary Meetings being held at the Midland Institute. In 1871, the IMechE’s Council formed a committee to look into building an entirely new house, where all meetings could be held. The committee considered three potential sites in Birmingham, but finally recommended refurbishing the existing leased building in Newhall Street or constructing a new building on land at the corner with New Edmund Street. This work did not take place and, in 1877, the IMechE moved to London.
In London, the Institution occupied rented premises at No 10 Victoria Chambers for 20 years. In 1895, the IMechE’s Council set up a House Committee to build new headquarters on land purchased by the Institution at Storey’s Gate, near St James’s Park. Disputes with neighbours meant that work on the building did not begin until 1897. Construction took two years and the building was officially opened on 16-17 May 1899.
During the First World War, the Office of Works and the National Relief Fund took over the IMechE headquarters. The IMechE moved into 11 Great George Street as tenants of Armstrong, Whitworth & Company.
At the start of the Second World War, the IMechE moved out of London to The Meadows at Bletchworth, Surrey. In July 1940, the military requisitioned The Meadows and the IMechE moved back to Storey's Gate in London.
During the Second World War, the IMechE headquarters acted as a meeting place not just for the Institution, but for other bodies including the Royal Netherland Institution of Engineers, the Association of Polish Engineers in Great Britain and the Society of Engineers and Technicians of the Fighting French Forces. Government departments also made use of the building, and in January 1943, a group of senior REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers) used the building to plan the mechanical engineering support for Operation Overlord and the invasion of Normandy.
In 1975 a new office was opened in Bury St Edmonds, with the relocation of several departments. This office closed in 2004.
The IMechE continues to represent professional engineers under its mission statement of "Improving the world through engineering".
- Great Western Railway CoBiographyBiography
The Great Western Railway, also known as the GWR, was founded by Royal Assent on 31 August 1835. The idea of a railway from Bristol to London had first been mooted in 1824, and finally in 1833 a committee of four prominent Bristol businessmen, namely George Jones, John Harford, Thomas Richard Guppy and William Tothill, had joined together and provided impetus and capital for the project. It took two years to survey the line and push the necessary legislation through Parliament. The first train ran from Bristol to Bath on 31 August 1940, full services started in 1841 and in 1842 Swindon Locomotive Works started operation. The London terminus of the GWR was at Paddington station.
At its inception, the GWR had a board of 24 directors which was divided into two committees based in London and Bristol. The first chairman, who sat on the London committee, was Benjamin Shaw and the first deputy chairman was Robert Bright, a member of the Bristol committee. Sir Daniel Gooch was the first Locomotive Superintendent, a post that came later to be known as the Chief Mechanical Engineer. The GWR did not have the post of General Manager until 1863, when Charles Grierson was appointed. The first Secretary was Charles Saunders. Charles Russell became chairman in 1839. The GWR’s first Engineer (a post that would later be called the Chief Civil Engineer) was the renowned Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and he held the post from March 1835 to September 1859. The GWR was overseen by a Board of Directors.
At the turn of the century there were three departments under the General Manager. These were the General Department, New Works and Government Enquiries and Staff and Expenses. On the operational side of the GWR, the various different departments such as the Locomotive, Carriage and Superintendent, the Superintendent of the Line, the Goods Department and the Traffic Manager all used a similar administrative structure. These departments were headed by one manager and beneath this post responsibility was distributed into divisions based on geographical areas, which varied by department. The docks which were owned by the GWR were administrated separately from the railways under the control of the Chief Docks Manager. There were also facilitative administrative departments, as well as Hotels and Catering, Surveyor, Estate Agent, Stores departments and a Road Motor Engineer’s Department which operated the GWR’s road haulage service.
Brunel insisted on using a broad gauge track, which caused problems both in the civil engineering projects to build the railway and also during operation. A Gauge Commission had been appointed in 1846 and brought about the Gauge Act of 16 August 1846 which noted the systemic advantages of narrow gauge but did not compel the GWR to convert the full length of their track. From 1846 a standard gauge third rail was added to board gauge lines. From around 1868, led by then Chairman Sir Daniel Gooch, the GWR began to convert the entire system to standard gauge, and this was completed on 23 May 1892.
The main line of the Great Western Railway ran over the 118¼ miles between Bristol Temple Meads and Paddington station in London. The construction of the main line required several major engineering works. The chief among these was the two-mile long Box Tunnel between Bath and Chippenham. This challenging engineering work took around five years to complete, opening on 30 June 1841. Brunel also constructed viaducts and bridges, including the Maidenhead Bridge, opened on 1 July 1839 and the Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash which linked Devon and Cornwall across the River Tamar and which opened on 11 April 1859.
The GWR had a road haulage operation, which connected with its rail freight services. The GWR also owned and operated a number of docks and harbours, and after the Grouping in 1923 the GWR became the world’s largest dock-owning company. It wholly owned 16 docks, including Plymouth, Swansea and Cardiff, and jointly owned five other docks. The South Wales ports mainly handled minerals and food, whilst passenger ships used Plymouth and Fishguard. The GWR’s docks and harbours allowed goods and passengers to transfer between rail and sea with ease. The GWR also owned its own hotels, which numbered eight by 1923. The showpiece hotel was the Great Western Royal Hotel which was connected to Paddington station.
The Railways Act 1921 came into effect on 1 January 1923 and the multitude of smaller railway companies were consolidated in the Big Four. The GWR absorbed seven larger constituent companies as well as 26 smaller railways covering most of Wales, the Welsh Marches, Somerset, South Devon and Cornwall. It was third largest Big Four railway, with around 3,800 miles of track.
The Great Western Railway, along with all the other Big Four railway companies was nationalised and taken over by the Railway Executive, part of the British Transport Commission from 1 January 1948. The Western Region of British Railways took over responsibilty for GWR's sphere of operations.
