Harry Samuel Bickerton Brindley

Sir Harry Samuel Bickerton Brindley KBE (1867–1920) was a British engineer, armaments businessman and manufacturer.

Life

Brindley was born in September 1867 in Handsworth, near Birmingham.[1] His father, G. S. Brindley, was an engineer and mechanics instructor at the Imperial College of Engineering in Japan,[2] where the younger was subsequently raised and educated.[3] He graduated from Tokyo University with an engineering degree in 1883.[4]

Career

While living in Tokyo, he received a United States patent for 1902 hydraulic or other fluid controlling valve.[5]

In 1915, Brindley assumed management of the Ponders End Shell Works, devoted to WWI production.[6][7][8] After the war, Winston Churchill wrote that Brindley's work at Ponders end "proved of the highest value to the Ministry of Munitions, and he has succeeded in a remarkable degree in enlisting the enthusiasm of the workers in the manufacture of shells."[9]

Following the war, Brindley sought to share the methods of industrial efficiency that he had developed at Ponder's end.[10] In 1919 he was a co-initiator of the British Institute of Industrial Administration.[11][12]

Freemasonry

After the war, Ponders End employees petitioned the Freemasons for a lodge to be named after Brindley.[7] The request was successful, after it was supported by Winston Churchill. Brindley was chosen to be the first Master.[9]

Death and knighthood

Brindley died on 28 March 1920.[1] Three days after his death, Brindley was posthumously gazetted as a Knight of the British Empire.[13]

References
  1. The Engineer. Morgan-Grampian (Publishers). 1920.
  2. Engineering. Office for Advertisements and Publication. 1920.
  3. Richard Davenport-Hines (12 November 2012). Capital, Entrepreneurs and Profits. Routledge. pp. 354–. ISBN 978-1-136-29047-3.
  4. Harry Samuel Bickerton Brindley - Graces Guide
  5. U.S. Patent Number 4650159
  6. Randolph Spencer Churchill (1977). Winston S. Churchill. Companion Volume: pt.1. Jan. 1917-June 1919. pt. 2. July 1919-March 1921. pt. 3. April 1921-Nov. 1922. Houghton Mifflin.
  7. Ponders End Shell Worker's Souvenir Book - Document | Explore 20th Century London
  8. HMSO (23 April 2012). Official History of the Ministry of Munitions Volume I: Industrial Mobilizations, 1914-15. Andrews UK Limited. pp. 108–. ISBN 978-1-78149-395-3.
  9. Brother Winston: Churchill as a Freemason. MQ Magazine ISSUE 3, October 2002.
  10. British Management Review. 1956.
  11. Robert N. Rapoport (4 July 2013). Mid-Career Development: Research perspectives on a developmental community for senior administrators. Routledge. pp. 23–. ISBN 978-1-136-43152-4.
  12. John F. Wilson; Steven Toms; Abe de Jong; Emily Buchnea (1 December 2016). The Routledge Companion to Business History. Taylor & Francis. pp. 477–. ISBN 978-1-135-00782-9.
  13. Whitaker's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage for the Year ... 1925.



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