Charles Richard Fox Engelbach
Charles Richard Fox Engelbach (1876-1943) of Austin
1876 May 20th. Born at Kensington the son of Lewis Engelbach, a War Office clerk and his wife Jessis Bryan
Went to school in Southport
Started work at Woolwich Arsenal
1892 Joined Armstrong Whitworth and served a three-year apprenticeship and where he worked on the manufacture of naval turret guns.
1901 Listed as a boarder in a lodging house at 18 Wentworth Place, Elswick (age 24 born Kensington), Mechanical Engineer. His parents were living at Richmond, Surrey with his father listed as a Retired Civil Service Clerk [1]
1902 Later, at Scotswood-on-Tyne where Armstrong Whitworth were making the Roots and Venables paraffin-petrol car.
1902 Married Florence Neumegan (born in Spain) and they had two sons. His wife was an artist - some of her work is in the Tate and some in the Royal Academy
1904-06 Works Manager when they produced the Wilson-Pilcher car
1906 onward. Built a special factory to produce Armstrong Whitworth cars
1911 Living at Clifton Mount, Granger Park Road, Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Charles Richard Fox Engelbach (age 34 born Kensington), Manager - Motor Car Factory. With his wife Florence Ada Engelbach (age 34 born Spain), Painter (Artist) and their son Anthony Gordon Engelbach (age 7 born Newcastle). Three servants.[2]
1912 Birth of son Charles Peter Graham Engelbach
1914 Called up to the RNVR
1915 Took over the management of the 4.7 inch Howitzer department of the Coventry Ordnance Works. Later awarded an OBE for his work.
General Manager of a London components company
1922 Appointed Works director of Austin.
1925-6 Reorganised the factory with the moving of 1,500 machine tools
1938 Forced to retire because of poor eyesight and replaced by Leonard Lord. He retained a seat of the board of Austin until his death.
He was also a director of Birmid Industries
1943 February 19th. Died
1942/43 Obituary [3]
Charles Richard Fox Engelbach was born in 1876 and received his engineering training with Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth, Ltd., and remained with the firm until 1906.
Following service in the Forces in the first World War, he became Manager of the Howitzer Department of the Coventry Ordnance' Works in 1915.
In 1922 he was appointed Works Director of the Austin Motor Co., Ltd., where he remained until his retirement in 1938.
He died on the 8th February, 1943, at the age of 66.
He was elected a Member in 1926 and was President of the Institution for the Session 1933-34. Further details of his career were published in the Journal for April, 0943.
1943 Obituary [4]
CHARLES RICHARD FOX ENGELBACH. O.B.E., was a director of the Austin Motor Company, Ltd., a position he retained for fully twenty years. He received his technical education at Armstrong College, Newcastle upon Tyne, from 1894 to 1899, and during the same period served his apprenticeship with Sir W. G. Armstrong Whitworth and Company. He remained with that firm until 1914 and during his fourteen years' association with it filled the positions of assistant manager in the light ordnance department, manager of the shell and fuse shops at Scotswood, and finally general manager of the motor car works.
On being mobilized in 1914 for service with his unit in the R.N.V.R. he was seconded to Coventry Ordnance Works as manager of the howitzer department. From 1918 to 1921 he was general manager of Messrs. Pittevil and Company, of London. In the following year he accepted the appointment of works director of the Austin Motor Company, where he had charge of 20,000 employees. He resigned this position in 1938 but retained his seat on the Board with the additional duties of consulting engineer. Mr. Engelbach, whose death occurred at Birmingham on 19th February 1943, in his sixty-seventh year, was elected a Member of the Institution in 1938. He was also past-president of the Institution of Automobile Engineers.
1943 Obituary [5]
See Also
Sources of Information
- The Austin 1905-52 by R. J. Wyatt. Published 1981. ISBN 0 7153 7948 8