Title
Correspondence and lectures relating to the design of the Chinese Engine 4-8-4 and its arrival to the National Railway Museum
Reference
CANT/1/39
Production date
1979 - 1988
Creator
- Cantlie, KennethBiographyBiography
Colonel Kenneth Cantlie (1899-1986), mechanical engineer, was born in London in 1899 as the youngest son of Lady Mabel Cantlie (née Barclay Brown, 1860-1921) and Sir James Cantlie (1851-1926), a surgeon and specialist in tropical diseases. Kenneth Cantlie had a long international career as a designer of locomotives and coaches in Argentina, India and China and promoting the British locomotive industries after the Second World War.
The Cantlie family had strong connections to China: Sir James trained Dr Sun Yat-Sen (1866-1925), who became the first president of China after revolution in 1911. Sir James and Lady Cantlie were instrumental in rescuing Sun Yat-Sen in 1896 when he was held captive at the London Chinese Legation by the Chinese Qing Dynasty. Sun Yat-Sen remained a close family friend and became the godfather of Kenneth Cantlie.
Kenneth Cantlie was educated in Scotland at Junior School and Gordon’s College, Aberdeen, and University College, London. The loss of his right eye in early childhood resulted in Kenneth being unfit for army service during the First World War, and instead undertook war work at London North Western Railway’s Crewe Railway Shops. He then became an apprentice and a pupil of Crewe’s Chief Mechanical Engineer Mr. Bowen-Cooke, subsequently obtaining a certificate on technical training at Crewe Technical College.
Between 1920 and 1923 Kenneth acted as an assistant to the Chief Mechanical Engineer, then Assistant Traction Superintendent and Train Ferry Supervisor on Entre dos Rios Railway in Argentina. In 1924 he joined the Jodphur-Bikanir Railway in India as the Assistant Locomotive Superintendent and then in 1928 as the Deputy Loco Superintendent building 70 coaches to his own designs.
In 1929 Kenneth Cantlie was invited by the Chinese government to represent his family at the state funeral of president Sun Yat-Sen when his remains were interred in the mausoleum at Purple Mountain, Nanking and was subsequently appointed to act as an adviser to the Chinese railways by the Minister of Railways Sun Fo, son of Sun Yat-Sen. Before taking up the post in 1930, Kenneth travelled in China, Japan and the U.S.
Kenneth Cantlie returned to China in 1930 as the Consulting Expert for Standardisation of Equipment and was offered the official post of the Technical Adviser to the Chinese Ministry of Railways in 1934. He contributed substantially to the rebuilding of the Chinese railways by engineering lines and designed bridges, carriages and locomotives, such as the 4-8-4 KF class locomotives. Kenneth Cantlie was appointed as the Trustee of the British Boxer Indemnity Fund in 1931 and was later awarded the Order of the Brilliant Jade.
Kenneth Cantlie married Phyllis Gage-Brown (1896-1965) on 7th April 1931 at the All Saints Church in Kobe, Japan and the family lived in Shanghai and Nanking, China. The couple had three sons, the eldest being born in China: Hugh (1932), Paul (1934) and Bruce St. George Cantlie (1937).
The Cantlie family stayed in Nanking until February 1937 when they left for England. The outbreak of the war and Japanese invasion in 1937 prevented Cantlie’s return to China and he stayed in London as the adviser to the Chinese Government Purchase Commission (part of the Indemnity Fund), a post he held until 1950.
Cantlie acted as the manager of Caprotti Valve & Gear Ltd Associated Locomotive Equipment Ltd. between 1939 and 1948, becoming the director from the start of the Second World War.
Kenneth Cantlie joined the British Army on the 2nd September 1939 and served in various positions in the War Office and invasion areas in Africa and Germany throughout the Second World War. In 1942 he was promoted as Lt. Colonel and 1946 he was posted to the German Section of Home Office in London.
After the war Kenneth Cantlie acted as the Overseas Representative for the Locomotive Manufacturers’ Association (LMA) promoting British railway industry exports between 1948 and 1956. He visited and reported on the railways of various countries in North and South America, India, Europe and the Middle East. Cantlie represented the Giesl ejector in the 1950s to the 1970s in various continents including Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. He founded and co-directed a consultancy company called Verity-Orient Ltd. with another locomotive engineer George W. Carpenter.
In 1956 Cantlie was invited to attend the 90th birthday anniversary of Dr Sun Yat-Sen as a guest of the Chinese Government, meeting key figures such as Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai. He returned to China again in 1957 to 1958 promoting British companies and also reporting on the trips to the British Ministry of Defence and delivering messages between Zhou Enlai and the Prime Minister Harold Macmillan. Kenneth Cantlie maintained strong connections to China by visiting Peking and Hong Kong until the early 1980s.
Kenneth Cantlie was a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Institution of Locomotive Engineers, the Newcomen Society, the Society of Chinese Engineers and the China Society (London). He was also the founding member of the Conservative Commonwealth Council and a member of the West African Committee.
Kenneth Cantlie died 11 February 1986 aged 87 after a long illness in his home, 8 Chester Row, Eaton Square, London.
Scope and Content
Folder containing correspondence, printed publications and drafts for lectures. Correspondents include the National Railway Museum (NRM) and Science Museum regarding the handover and display (seats, livery, badge) of locomotive 4-8-4 donated by the Chinese government and Kenneth Cantlie's publications donated by the China Society, Cornwall locomotive and Newcomen Society speech, also includes correspondence between NRM and Hugh Cantlie after his father's passing on donating the papers to NRM (1988); partial copies of Sino-British Trade review, April 1938 covering the handover event at NRM; a copy of High Speed Trains Throughout the World by J. Boyley, The Institution of Mechanical Engineers 1983; The European Railways no. 145 April 1980 including an article of 4-8-4's and a copy of Railway Gazette article New 4-8-4 Locomotives for China, 1935; a brochure for the Imperial Scalene Co. on composition for cleaning steam boilers; a bundle of correspondence and copied notes from the Science Museum on transferring the Chinese engine 4-8-4 to NRM, York from Shanghai including a tender of shipping (1980); correspondence on attending the unloading of 4-8-4 at Tower Warf, Kent 26th June 1981; membership correspondence from Conservative and Commonwealth Council; a draft for a Newcomen Society lecture on the design of 4-8-4 engines, March 1983; a bundle of correspondence with Railway Industry Association (former LAMA) and a copy of RIA's sectorial report 'China's Railroads' by R.W. Huenemann, 1977.
Extent
1 file with approx. 118 pages
Level of description
FILE
Repository name
National Railway Museum, York
Associated people and organisations
- 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".
- Railway Industry AssociationBiographyBiography
Railway Industry Association (RIA) was founded in 1971, superseding the Locomotive and Allied Manufacturers' Association (LAMA) (1957-1971) and Locomotive Manufacturers' Association (LMA) (1875-1957).
RIA is a trade association for the UK-based railway industry suppliers and it represent members’ interests to Government, regulators, Network Rail and other stakeholders and promotes exports of railway products and services.
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