Cyril Ben Digby (1897-1939)
1939 Obituary [1]
"CYRIL BEN DIGBY was personally responsible for the design and layout of printing presses for many of the national daily newspapers in this country and on the Continent.
He was born at Northampton in 1897, and educated at the Borough Polytechnic from 1910 to 1915. He served his apprenticeship in the shops of Messrs. R. Hoe and Company, Ltd., printing machine manufacturers, from 1913 to 1915, when he joined the Royal Flying Corps as an engine mechanic. He served in the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force until 1919, first as a mechanic and later as a gunner and observer. In 1916 his aeroplane was shot down over Germany and he was taken prisoner. Early in 1919 he returned to Messrs. Hoe and Company as a junior draughtsman, and subsequently he was promoted to be senior draughtsman. It was while he held this position that he designed the high-speed rotary presses for The Daily Express (both in London and Manchester), The Daily Telegraph, The Liverpool Post, The Cape Argus, Le Matin, and El Mundo, and in 1932 he visited Moscow in connection with the installation of a line of printing presses for Pravda. He was appointed assistant manager for Messrs. Joseph Foster and Son, printing machine manufacturers, London, in 1933, and in this post he supervised all technical matters connected with this company's business in London and the southern counties. He was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1935 and died on 11th August 1938."