Arthur Stanley Angwin
Sir (Arthur) Stanley Angwin (1883–1959), of Cable and Wireless, electrical engineer
1883 born in Penzance on 11 December, the son of the Revd George William Angwin, a nonconformist minister, and his wife, Lucinda Cambellock.
1907 At East London (later Queen Mary) College, obtained his BSc (Eng)
Went to work for Yarrow and Co, shipbuilders on the Clyde
Entered the Post Office's engineering department; telephone installation work in Glasgow.
WWI Commanded a Territorial telegraphy unit in Gallipoli, Egypt, Palestine, and France; awarded the DSO and the MC, and was five times mentioned in dispatches.
1921 Married Dorothy Gladys, daughter of Walter H. Back, of Exeter. They had three sons and a daughter
Involved in the design and construction of the large radio stations at Leafield, Rugby, and Cairo
1928 In charge of the engineering department's radio branch.
1932 Became assistant engineer-in-chief
1935 deputy engineer-in-chief
1939 engineer-in-chief.
1941 Knighted
1945 Accompanied Lord Reith on a tour of Commonwealth governments to discuss the future of the Cable and Wireless Co
1947 Retired from the Post Office to become the company's chairman and oversaw the move of the company into the public sector, including transfer of UK assets to the Post Office.
1947 Became chairman of the Radio Research Board in 1947–52
1951 Retired from Cable and Wireless and became chairman of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Board
1959 Obituary [1]
WE regret to record the death on April 21, at the age of seventy-five, of Sir Stanley Angwin, K.C.M.G., K.B.E., D.S.O., M.C., T.D., D.Sc. (Eng.).
Arthur Stanley Angwin was born at Penzance, Cornwall, in 1883. After serving his articles with Yarrow and Co., engineers and shipbuilders, he continued to study engineering at East London (now Queen Mary) College, and took the B.Sc. of London University.
He joined the Post Office Engineering Department in 1906 and shortly afterwards was transferred to Glasgow.
When the Territorial Force was inaugurated he raised the Lowland Division Telegraph Company, which was composed almost entirely of Post Office staff. The unit was mobilised in 1915 and formed into the 52nd Divisional Signal Company with Major Angwin as Officer-in-Command. He served through the first world war with the unit in Gallipoli, Egypt, Palestine and France, and was awarded the M.C. and D.S.O.
On his return to civilian life after the war, Angwin was sent to London to join the wireless section of the Post Office Engineer-in-Chief's department, then being expanded. He played an important part in the design and construction of the Leafield, Cairo and Rugby radio stations, and in the inauguration of the transatlantic telephone service.
He became Assistant Engineer-in-Chief of the Post Office in 1933; Deputy Engineer-in-Chief in 1935 and Engineer-in-Chief in 1939. It was under his direction that the radio section developed equipment for short-wave radio telephony and built up the overseas radio services. Other advances wh1ch he d1rected included the adoption of the coaxial cable system as a normal method of providing trunk line commumcat1ons; two voice frequency signalling between zone centres, and the use of submerged repeaters on submarine telephone cables.
Sir Stanley was knighted in 1941, received the K.B.E. in 1945, and the K.C.M.G. in 1957. His experience of international communications was wide. As British delegate, he attended the Telecommunications Conference in Madrid in 1932, in Lucerne in 1933, in Lisbon in 1934, in Bucharest in 1937, in Cairo in 1938, in Montreux in 1939, in Bermuda in 1945, and in Moscow in 1946. He also accompan1ed Lord Reith on his tour of 1945 to study and report on Commonwealth communications.
On the formation of Cable and Wireless, Ltd., on January 1, 1947, Sir Stanley was appointed chairman, but he resigned that appointment 1n 1951 to become chairman of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Board, from which he retired in 1956.
Sir Stanley was for some time a member of the Board of Engineering Studies of the University of London. In 1947 he was made a Fellow of Queen Mary College, and in 1953 the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science (Engineering) was conferred upon him by the University.
He was a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and was president of the Institution of Electrical Engineers in 1943-44. In 1953 he was awarded the Faraday Medal, and he was elected an Honorary Member of the I.E.E. in 1956. Arrangements have been made by the Council of the Institution of Electrical Engineers for a Memorial Service to be held at 12.15 p.m. on Thursday, May 14, 1959, at the Queen's Chapel of the Savoy.
1959 Obituary [2]
See Also
Sources of Information
- Biography, ODNB [1]