Abstract
It is remarkable that, in all the discussions and negotiations during 1946 and 1947, there was little or no real consultation between the government and experts in the various branches of the transport industry. On the one hand, the transport operators were unwilling to assist in promoting what they saw as their own demise; on the other, a government backed by a large Parliamentary majority was not inclined to compromise or review its strategy. The consequences were unfortunate, particularly as regards the railways. On 22 January 1946, and again on 6 February, Barnes met the railway chairmen but a profitable dialogue did not follow. He offered to listen to their views on ‘the scope of acquisition, units of management, or superannuation’, but he warned that ‘once the Government’s proposals had been made public, he might not be in the same position’.
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Notes and References
R. Bell, History of the British Railways during the War, 1939–45 (London, 1945). p. 239.
PRO MT 62/127.
Letter dated 24 December 1980 from G. W. Quick Smith to M. R. Bonavia. (In 1945, Quick Smith was Secretary and also the legal adviser of the RHA.)
PRO MT 74/86.
PRO MT 74/181. Biography of Ashfield, p. 173.
John Cliff had not yet been appointed Deputy Chariman of London Transport, which took place in 1948; but on staff and organisation matters he could be regarded as the spokesman in Ashfield’s absence. Biography on p. 176.
LPTB Minutes, 1946.
Ibid.
Letter dated 17 May 1981 from Michael Robbins (former LTE Board Member) to M. R. Bonavia.
T. C. Barker and R. M. Robbins, History of London Transport, vol. 2 (London, 1974) pp. 308–9.
P. S. Bagwell, The Railwaymen, vol. 2 (London, 1974) p. 60.
PRO MT 74/79.
Harley Drayton, as he was always known (though christened Harold Charles) (1901–1966) left school at 15 and joined a finance company which acquired the British Electric Traction Company in 1920. He played a major part in BET’s disposal of its tramway undertakings and development of bus companies, becoming in 1945 Chairman both of BET and of the investment trust company. He became also chairman of Provincial Newspapers Ltd, the Michael Cotts Group Ltd, and of a South American railway; he was active in the disposal of British interests in South American railways. He was also a director of the Midland Bank and the Standard Bank, and a Member of Council of the Institute of Directors. His Times obituary described him as ‘a commanding figure in the City … for a great many years he remained an enigma, even to many of his close friends. He talked little about his background and his early years … it was merely by chance … that … he was revealed as a great collector and bibliophile as well as a connoisseur of pictures.’
In September 1948, after the Tilling bus interests had been sold to the BTC.
Roger Fulford, The Sixth Decade (History of the BET group) Privately printed (1956) p. 5.
Sir Robert Letch (knighted 1945) (1899–1962) joined the Port of London Authority in 1915 and had become Assistant General Manager by 1940. Until 1941 he dealt with the Port’s problems during the intensive bombing, being also Port Food Movement Officer. He became Regional Ports Director for Scotland in 1941 and his organisation for the Clyde ports was regarded as a model for the other Regional Port Directors. He moved to a similar post for the North Western Area in 1942, having lost his sight in an accident on the Clyde when he was hit on the head by a cargo block whilst on shipboard. He showed a complete determination to surmount this catastrophe and ‘within a short time became Chairman of the National Association of Port Employers … where … he controlled a meeting, recognising the voice of every speaker and immediately replying to them by name’ (Times obituary).
He later became, successively, Deputy Chairman of the Docks and Inland Waterways Executive, General Manager of the British Transport Docks Division and Chairman of the BTC Docks Management Board.
PRO MT 74/62.
PRO MT 47/203.
Wilson, ‘Personal Notes’.
Ibid.
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© 1987 Michael R. Bonavia
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Bonavia, M.R. (1987). Consultation and Opposition. In: The Nationalisation of British Transport. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-08793-8_3
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