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.
Date
1955-1983
Scope and ContentOriginal folder with annotation 'Ministerial and Official' containing correspondence with the Chinese Embassy in London, Sino-British Trade Council, British Foreign Office, Board of Trade and Chinese dignitaries including Madame Soon Ling Ching (the honorary president of China and third wife of Sun Yat Sen) and Sun Fo (son of Sun Yat-Sen). Kenneth Cantlie was at this period the president of China Society in London and often writes in this capacity to Chinese Embassy and also as the director of Verity-Orient company making commercial enquiries. Topics include the 117th birthday of Dr Sun Yat-Sen (1982) and the funeral of Madame Soon Ling Ching; a copy letter to Madame Soon Ling Ching mentioning Morris Cohen's death; copy letter to Mr Mao Yo-Sheng, engineer and president of Chinese Society of Civil engineering on Derby Research Centre and high speed trains (1979); correspondence with Sino-British Trade Council and a report relating to the visit of Chinese Civil Engineering Society visit (1977) and Kenneth Cantlie's notes on the event including details of his own career; correspondence with Chinese Embassy on the deaths of Chairman Mao, Premier Chou En-Lai (Zhou Enlai) and earthquakes in China (1976); correspondence with Foreign and Commonwealth Office regarding Boxer Indemnity Fund loans from Chinese banks to complete the Canton-Hankow Railway line, a mention of Kenneth Cantlie delivering a message from Chou En-Lai (Zhou Enlai) to Mr MacMillan (1972); correspondence relating to and meeting minutes of Locomotive Manufacturers Association (LMA); correspondence with Charge d'Affairs, Chinese Embassy, on various issues including Sino-British trade relations (1958), severe floods in Southern China (1959) and Kenneth Cantlie's 9 month visit to Africa (1962-1963); a letter to Mr Wu Mao-Sun of Chinese Institute for Foreign Affairs depicting Lady Cantlie's (mother of Kenneth Cantlie) involvement in helping Dr Sun Yat-Sen in 1890s (1961); correspondence relating to Chinese Diesel Traction Research Party and list of participants (1965); correspondence with Board of Trade on restrictions to Chinese imports (1959-1960); correspondence with the Chinese Commercial Counsellor on visiting a factory building British Railway's diesel locomotives (1959) electric locomotives and proposed Peking Trade Fair 1960 (1958); correspondence between Kenneth Cantlie, Foreign Office, Messires Sandberg, Vulcan Foundry and China National Transport regarding spare parts for 4-8-4 locomotives commissioned by the Boxer Indemnity Fund/Chinese Purchasing Commission before the change of government in China before the Second World War and still stored at the Vulcan Foundry (1958-1959); a copy letter by Kenneth Cantlie to Prime Minister Harold Macmillan describing Kenneth Cantlie's meeting with Premier Zhou Enlai (Chou En-lai) in 1957 and requesting an interview to convey a message from Zhou, including a typed account of the meeting discussing political issues such as Hong Kong's position and Sino-British trade relations (1958); correspondence with various Chinese officials such as Commercial Councillor Hsieh Shou-tien on arranging private meetings with MP's and ministers on trade, Shou Lih-Tse and C. T. Ching (1957-1958); correspondence with F.A.B. Fawssett, Ministry of Defence, Economic and general division, thanking Kenneth Cantlie's report for the locomotive industry and producing prints of his negatives and a list of captions for the photographs (1957); correspondence and lists of controlled goods relating to the trading embargo with China (1958-1958); a copy letter to A.R.W. Low describing Kenneth Cantlie's trip to China in 1956, being a guest of Madame Sun Yat Sen and meeting Mao Tze Tung, Chou En-Lai (Zhou Enlai) and other leaders, also mentioning General Morris Cohen and the Suez Canal. Also contains a copy letter by Kenneth Cantlie to Lawrence Kadoorie congratulating him on obtaining a peerage (1981) and Kenneth Cantlie's meeting with Soon Ling Ching before her passing away.
Locomotive Manufacturers' Association of Great Britain (LMA) was founded in 1875 when a number of independent steam locomotive manufacturers grouped together to petition Parliament in response to declining orders from railway companies which began to establish their own works.
LMA promoted British locomotive and railway industry abroad sending its overseas representatives to various continents and countries including Africa, Near East, the Americas and China.
LMA changed names first to Locomotive and Allied Manufacturers' Association (LAMA) in 1957 when the association was widened to include manufacturers of all forms of rolling stock and then Railway Industry Association (RIA) in 1971 to include all parts of the railway supply industry.
“British Railways” is the expression commonly used to describe the business run by the following legal entities:
• Railway Executive (1948 – 1952)
• British Transport Commission (1952 – 1963)
• British Railways Board (1963 – 1993)
Railways were nationalised on 1st January 1948 when the assets of the railways in Great Britain were vested in the British Transport Commission (BTC), a state-owned corporation created by the Transport Act 1947. Between 1948 and 1952 the business of operating the railways was carried on by the Railway Executive, a state-owned corporation, subsidiary to BTC. The Railway Executive was abolished in 1952 and BTC took over direct responsibility for the railways. Before 1948 there was no brand that was identified with the whole of the railways of Great Britain, only the separate brands of the Group companies, Southern, Great Western, London, Midland and Scottish and London and North Eastern, and London Transport. The railways were run under the corporate identity “British Railways” from 1948 by both the Railway Executive and BTC. The public manifestations of this were the words themselves on vehicles and premises, quasi-heraldic devices on locomotives (the so-called “cycling lion” followed by the “ferret and dartboard”) and the lozenge shape adopted (and clearly inspired by London Transport’s very similar logo) for station names.
When the nationalised transport industry was reorganised in 1963, BTC was itself abolished and a new statutory corporation created to run the railways. This was British Railways Board (BRB). The name most closely associated with the national railway system had now become part of the name of the corporate entity, (i.e. the legal person, entitled as a matter of law to own property, to enter into contracts, and to sue (or be sued) in the courts and be prosecuted for breaches of the criminal law) which owned the assets and business of the railways of Great Britain. As a result of the corporate rebranding carried out in 1965 the business name, or brand name (as it was now expressly recognised to be), was shortened to “British Rail”. However, BRB retained the full “British Railways” in its title until its eventual abolition under the provisions of the Transport Act 2000.
The Vulcan Foundry was originally opened in 1830 at Newton-le-Willows, as Charles Tayleur and Company. It initially produced girders for bridges, switches and crossings, and other ironwork following the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Robert Stephenson became a partner in 1832, and in the same year, the first locomotives ‘Tayleur’ and ‘Stephenson’ were delivered to the North Union Railway. By 1840 locomotives had been delivered to five European countries and to North America. The company became The Vulcan Foundry Company in 1847 and acquired limited liability in 1864. From the beginning of 1898, the name changed again to The Vulcan Foundry Limited, dropping the word 'company.' Vulcan locomotives were exported all over the world, with the first locomotives for Russia and Japan supplied in 1837 and 1871 respectively and a long association with India began in 1852.
First World War production included shells, gun mountings and mine sweeping equipment. The first non-steam locomotive, an electric, was produced for India in 1929. The first diesel locomotive design commenced in 1932/33 and an agreement was reached with A/S Frichs in Denmark. The English Electric 6K engine was used from this time. The “Waltzing Matilda” tank was developed in 1938 and produced in large numbers and over five hundred ‘Austerity’ steam locomotives were produced for the War Department. Other wartime production included gun mountings and torpedo parts. In 1944 Vulcan acquired the locomotive business, Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns Ltd, based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
In 1946 the company began working with the English Electric Company producing diesel and electric locomotives and became part of the English Electric Group in 1955. All locomotive building from Preston was transferred to Vulcan Foundry and Robert Stephenson’s in Darlington. Under the new ownership, the works produced many locomotives for both domestic and foreign railways, notably the Deltic. The mid-sixties saw the ‘RK’/’V’ engine production at Preston moved to Vulcan and Ruston & Hornsby Ltd merged with English Electric Diesels in 1966. After the General Electric Company plc (GEC) takeover in 1968 the Ruston name was used for some time inside what became GEC Diesels Ltd in 1975. Engine production and development continued for locomotive, industrial and marine applications until after the GEC-Alsthom merger in 1989. The company took over Mirlees Engines, Stockport in 1997 and was renamed Alstom Engines Ltd.
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.
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