| Sir William A. Stanier, FRS | |
|---|---|
| Born | 27 May 1876 Swindon, Wiltshire, England |
| Died | 27 September 1965 (aged 89) Watford, England |
Sir William Arthur Stanier, FRS[1] (27 May 1876 - 27 September 1965) was Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway.[2]
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He was born in Swindon, where his father worked for the Great Western Railway (GWR) as William Dean's Chief Clerk, and educated at Swindon High School and also, for a single year, at Wycliffe College.
In 1891 he followed his father into a career with the GWR, initially as an office boy and then for five years as an apprentice in the workshops. Between 1897 and 1900 he worked in the Drawing Office as a draughtsman, before becoming Inspector of Materials in 1900. In 1904, George Jackson Churchward appointed him as Assistant to the Divisional Locomotive Superintendent in London. In 1912 He returned to Swindon to become the Assistant Works Manager and in 1920 was promoted to the post of Works Manager.
In late 1931, he was "headhunted" by Sir Josiah Stamp, chairman of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) to become the Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of that railway from 1 January 1932. He was charged with introducing modern and more powerful locomotive designs, using his knowledge gained at Swindon with the GWR.[3] Stanier built many other very successful designs for the LMS, especially the "Black 5" mixed traffic 4-6-0, and the 8F 2-8-0 freight locomotives. His Coronation Scot set a new British record of 114 mph, beating the previous record set by a Gresley A4.
During WWII he worked as a consultant for the Ministry of Supply and retired in 1944. He was knighted on 9 February 1943 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society[1][4] on his retirement, the only railway engineer other than George Stephenson to receive that honour.[5] He was also president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers for 1944.
He died in Rickmansworth in 1965. He had married in 1906 Ella Elizabeth, daughter of Charles Copeland Morse; they had one son and one daughter.[6]
William Stanier, with the backing of Sir Josiah Stamp, Chairman of the Company, reversed the small engine policy, which the LMS had inherited from the Midland Railway, with beneficial results. Designs introduced by Stanier include:
| Business positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Ernest Lemon |
Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway 1932–1944 |
Succeeded by Charles Fairburn |
| Professional and academic associations | ||
| Preceded by Asa Binns |
President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers 1944 |
Succeeded by Col Stephen Joseph Thompson |