Herbert Vincent Pointon
Herbert Vincent Pointon (1896-1955), managing director of ASEA Electric
1955 Obituary [1]
WE have learned with regret of the death of Mr. Herbert Vincent Pointon, which occurred on December 14th, after many months of ill-health. Mr. Pointon was the managing director of ASEA Electric, Ltd., with which he had been actively associated for thirty-five years.
He was born in London in 1896 and studied electrical engineering at the Battersea Polytechnic. After serving with the Royal Engineers throughout the first world war, Mr. Pointon joined the Metropolitan Electric Supply Company as a shift engineer in 1919, and a year later became a technical assistant in the London office of the ASEA organisation.
In 1922, he was appointed manager of the printing trades department, and in 1925 he went out to India to look after the firm's activities there. Mr. Pointon's first appointment in India was as general manager, but subsequently he was appointed a director of the company, having his headquarters in Bombay.
Mr. Pointon remained in India for twenty-four years, and upon his return to this country in 1949 he was appointed managing director of the ASEA companies in England. During his years in India Mr. Pointon served as a magistrate, and also did a great deal to promote the work of the institution of Engineers (India), of which he was a member. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
In 1953 Mr. Pointon received from the King of Sweden in which country he was particularly well known the honour of knighthood of the Swedish Order of Vasa.