Vincent Ziani de Ferranti

Sir (Gerard) Vincent Ziani de Ferranti (16 February 1893 - 20 May 1980) was the second son of Dr Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti. During his career, he was responsible for evolving Ferranti into a diverse multi-million pound organisation, and leaders in electrical engineering, electronics and avionics as chairman of the company between 1930 and 1963.^[1]

Early life

Ferranti was educated at Repton School and had two years of training at Yarrow’s shipyards at Scotsoun.^[1] He fought in the First World War in the service of the Royal Engineers,^[2] rising to the rank of Captain and was awarded the Military Cross. His elder brother, Major Basil Francis Sebastian Ziani de Ferranti, also fought in the war and similarly received a Military Cross but was killed in action.

Career

The death of Vincent's elder brother, Basil, meant that Vincent became heir apparent. When he returned from military service in 1921, Vincent joined Ferranti as a manager in the transformer department.^[1] Vincent jointly developed and patented surge absorbers to protect transformers from lightning strikes^[3] which aided Ferranti’s ability to produce some high voltage transformers for export. In 1922 after years of exclusion from the Hollinwood management, his father, Dr Ferranti, regained control of Ferranti. A share restructuring meant that between them, Dr Ferranti and Vincent now owned 29% of the equity, although it wasn't until 1928 that Dr Ferranti became chairman again.^[1]
In 1923 Vincent together with R Schofield made a Canadian visit to A B Cooper, the general manager of Ferranti Canada and was quick to realise that the emerging Canadian market had a lot more potential than that in the UK and it would make sense to expand the transformer operations over there. After his return to the UK, Vincent gave Cooper the green light to go ahead with plans that would double the Canadian factory output. Ball & Vardalas^[4] consider that this visit forged a special relationship between Cooper and Vincent that would last for the next thirty years and helped Canadian small transformer technology transfer back to the parent company.

During the 1920s, Dr Ferranti diversified manufacturing into Radio and his team led by Albert Hall produced the Standard Model A21 allowing Ferranti to compete with other manufacturers. Vincent improved Ferranti’s Radio performance by adding valve or Vacuum tube production to their range of capabilities, after opening a plant at Stalybridge.^[5] Wilson points out that this was a crucial decision because valves were the fundamental component of a radio.^[1] After seeing a valve demonstration at the Physical Society by Professor Finch, Vincent employed two of Finch's students R. W. Sutton and M. E. Sions and by combining them with Arthur Chilcott from GEC and Ferranti engineer Kenyon Taylor, he formed the nucleus of a team which would eventually become Ferranti electronics.
After the death of his father in 1930, Vincent became chairman and chief executive. Around 1933 he saw the potential of television and assigned Taylor to research into this new medium. By 1935 he acquired bigger premises at Moston ^[5] to expand their domestic product line, employing accountant Sir John Toothill and Dr N H Searby as chief engineer. As WW2 approached, he diverted manufacturing from radio and TV to IFF radar and government work. Toothill was dispatched to Edinburgh to set up what would eventually become Ferranti Scotland and establish Ferranti as one of Britain's leading electrical, electronics amd avionics manufacturers. Mr M Stewart, stated that this move was the birth of the electronics industry in Scotland, indicating that Messrs Ferranti would be the first parent firm.^[6]

In 1946 Vincent became president of the IEE and it was the first time in their history that a son had followed his father into this position. In 1948, he was knighted in recognition of Ferranti's contribution to the war effort.^[2] In 1949 the British Government contracted Ferranti to collaborate with the Bristol Aeroplane Company on a major guided missile project^[5] later to be known as the Bloodhound project and Vincent set up a Research & Development laboratory in Canada to develop Datar headed up Kenyon Taylor.^[7] In 1957 he sold off the radio and television business to Ekco^[8] a move which allowed Ferranti to focus on commercial business. In 1963, he sold off Ferranti UKs non-military computer operations, which included the design rights to the Ferranti-Packard 6000 computer, an act, which according to Vardalas, killed off the Ferranti-Packard computer business.^[7]
By the time his eldest son Sebastian became chairman in 1963, the company was worth in excess of £12m.

Positions Held

• 1930 Chairman and Chief Executive Ferranti
• 1938 Chairman - British Electrical and Allied Manufacturer's Association (BEAMA)
• 1946 President of the IEE
• 1948 Knighthood bestowed on him
• 1950 Chairman of the World Power Conference's international executive committee^[9]

Personal life

Ferranti had two sons, Sebastian and Basil, and three daughters. He died at his home Henbury Hall Henbury, Cheshire on 20 May 1980. His wife Dorothy Hettie Wilson survived him.

References