Crompton was born at Sion Hill, near Thirsk on the 31st May 1845. At the age of only 11 he was enrolled as a naval cadet during the Crimean War where he earned the Crimean medal and Sevastopol clasp. He was educated at Harrow from 1858-1860. Before his career as an engineer started, he served for four years in India (1864-1868) as an ensign in the rifle brigade. Crompton married Elizabeth Gertrude in 1871, and had two sons and three daughters.
In 1875 Crompton retired from the army and bought a partnership in a Chelmsford engineering firm.
Towards the end of 1886 Crompton formed the Kensington Court Company, financed by a few friends, for electricity supply to neighbouring premises. This pioneer enterprise, one of the first of its kind, became the Kensington and Knightsbridge Electric Supply Company. Crompton advocated the direct current system; S. Z. de Ferranti, engineer of the London Electric Supply Corporation, believed in alternating current and led the opposing school. The resulting ‘battle of the systems’, with these two as friendly antagonists, has its place in electrical history.
Between 1890 and 1899 Crompton revisited India to advise the government on electrical projects and by May 1900 he was in South Africa. Although electrical matters still claimed much of his time, Crompton became increasingly occupied with road transport. He had been a founder member of the Royal Automobile Club in 1896, and was one of the judges in 1903 at the first motor show.
A dinner which was held in his honour in London in 1931 was attended by probably the largest gathering of distinguished scientists and engineers ever recorded at a personal function. . He was awarded the Faraday medal in 1926 and was elected FRS in 1933.
Crompton died at Azerley Chase, Kirkby Malzeard, near Ripon, on the 15th February 1940.
Date
c. 1853-1969
Scope and ContentPapers relating to the life and work of Crompton in electrical engineering and road transport, and including material relating to Crompton & Co.Ltd. and Crompton Parkinson Ltd. Comprises correspondence, books and offprints, product catalogues, photographs and brochures of the above companies. Personal material includes diaries, and numerous references to his time in the Crimea (during the war), in India (1858-60, 1890-99) and South Africa (1900).
Extent7 linear metres (26 boxes; 58 volumes; 7 items)
Crompton and Company Limited originates in 1878 when Rookes Evelyn Bell Crompton took over the premises of T. H. P. Dennis in Chelmsford to form Crompton and Co, which soon became the country's leading distributor and manufacturer of electricity generating and lighting systems. In 1890 the chemist Joseph Swan sought his opinion when he first developed incandescent lamps for indoor use. Crompton immediately saw the potential and, within a couple of years, his firm was selling Swan's lamps and the generating equipment to go with them.
Crompton and Co became involved in public lighting schemes, particularly railway stations, goods yards and the Alexandra Palace entertainment complex in north London. Here, he carried out many experiments on the effect of arc lighting on vegetation and flowers. Crompton afterwards reported that a young engineering student was often there, observing him at work. Crompton later discovered this student was Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti and that his visits had been the beginnings of his interest in electricity.
The success of Crompton's British projects, led to a number of commissions in mainland Europe between 1885 and 1889. One such project was the Viennese Opera House, the first large theatre to be lit electrically anywhere. The public were astounded by the novel lighting effects that electricity could produce. Crompton was a shrewd businessman and went on to manufacture a.c. generators as well as the d.c. ones he had made his name with. He also helped extend the use of electricity into other areas - Crompton and Co invented the first electric toaster and some of the first electric ovens.
In 1927, there was a merger between Crompton and Co and F. and A. Parkinson, a private company, which would be effected by Crompton purchasing the issued share capital of Parkinson; Armstrong Siddeley Development Co disposed of the greater part of its shares in Crompton. The move surprised the electrical industry although Crompton had not been especially profitable for some years. The new company was called Crompton Parkinson, with Frank Parkinson as chairman.
By 1967, the Crompton name disappeared for a while from British industry when Hawker Siddeley took it over in 1967 but continued to live on in companies in Australia and India.
Crompton Parkinson Limited were Electrical engineers and manufacturers of a wide range of electrical components. They formed in 1927, by the merger of Crompton and Co (a lamp manufacturer founded by R.E.B. Crompton in 1878) and F. and A. Parkinson (a successful electric motor manufacturing company founded by two brothers, Albert and Frank Parkinson).
In 1968, Crompton Parkinson was taken over by the Hawker Siddeley aerospace group. The Crompton range continued to be further diversified to incorporate cable, fuses, batteries and metering instruments in addition to lamps and luminaires. In 1970, after Hawkers took over Brook Motors, the 2 companies later became Brook Crompton Parkinson Motors.
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