George Arthur Cheetham
George Arthur Cheetham (1888-1961)
Manager, Instrument and Meter Department, Metropolitan-Vickers Elect. Co., Ltd., Trafford Park, Manchester.
Career:
- College of Technology, Manchester;
- Designs Engineer, Ferranti, Ltd.
1962 Obituary.[1]
George Arthur Cheetham who died suddenly on the 31st. December 1961 was born at Stockport on the 26th November 1888. He was educated at Manchester Central High School and at the College of Technology part- time.
He joined the instrument and meter department of Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co. in 1913 as design engineer, rising to chief engineer in 1931. From 1942 until his retirement to Largs in 1955, he was managing director of Ferguson Pailin Ltd.
He was always deeply interested in the human side of factory management. With an immense capacity for hard work, he was forthright and outspoken, but with a deep sense of humour, and was highly respected by his colleagues and staff. During the Second World War, he was largely responsible for solving the 'teething' troubles in the manufacture of 'George', the automatic bomber pilot. In his early years, he was one of the pioneers of scouting in the Manchester area, and in later life, gardening, mathematics and reading formed his main hobbies. He is survived by his widow.
He joined The Institution as an Associate Member in 1920 and was elected a Member in 1932. He served on the North-Western Centre Committee from 1925 to 1937, being vice-chairman from 1932 to 1934 and chairman in 1934-35, and on the Meter and Instrument Section Committee from 1932 to 1935. His paper entitled 'An improved three-phase, three-wire, reactive volt-ampere-hour meter' was published in the Journal in 1933.