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The Fellowship
Hall of Fame
 Sir William Barlow FREng
President of The Royal Academy of Engineering 1991-96
Sir William Barlow is best
known for his role as Chairman of the Post Office
and organising its division into two separate
corporations The Post Office and British Telecom
(BT). Following a successful career in industry the
Labour Government had to work hard to persuade him
to become Chairman and Chief Executive in 1977. He
soon realised that the two parts of the business
were so different that they must be split up. The
Labour Government did not agree but Barlow decided
to press ahead with a major programme of telecom
digital switching and optical technology. The new
Conservative government elected in 1979 agreed to
the split which he then organised in 12 months. He
was then to have been Chairman of BT as a privatised
company but the Thatcher Government then refused to
privatise it and in 1980 he declined the appointment
and returned to the private sector. He first helped
to organise the merger of Thorn and EMI.
In 1984 he became Executive
Chairman of BICC one of the world’s largest cable
companies and its subsidiary the construction
company Balfour Beatty. He was heavily involved in
the concept and construction of the Channel Tunnel.
As Managing Director of The
English Electric Computer Company in the 1960s, Sir
William was in the computing boom in Britain. He
pressed for the amalgamation of Britain’s competing
computer companies which led to the formation of ICL
in 1968.Within weeks of this English Electric
decided to merge with GEC but Barlow disagreed so
strongly with this move that he resigned from
English Electric after 21 years service. He was not
alone – many senior people followed him including
Lord Caldecote the Academy’s second President.
The Government then asked him
to combine the three British strategic bearing
companies which created RHP. He led a programme of
modernisation and rationalisation which created a
world-class development and manufacturing company.
Never one to hide his views on
the importance of British industry, Sir William used
his Presidency of the Academy to campaign for
investment in transport and environmental
infrastructure to support the engineering sector,
particularly manufacturing, which he sees as vital
to the country’s economic stability. He has done
much to raise The Academy’s profile within
Government and industry by promoting engineers’
achievements.
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1924 |
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Born 8 June in Oldham |
| 1930s |
Attends Manchester Grammar School |
| 1944 |
Graduates from UMIST with a first in electrical engineering |
| 1944 |
Royal Navy
three years minesweeping and clearance |
| 1947 |
Joins The
English Electric company electric traction
business |
| 1950 |
Managed a
large scale electrification project in NW Spain
for Spanish National Railways |
| 1955 |
Management
of electric power equipment manufacture in
Liverpool |
| 1958 |
Manager of
English Electric’s Canadian operations including
hydro-electric projects and turbines for the
St Lawrence Seaway |
| 1962 |
Managing
Director of English Electric’s Liverpool
operations with 14000 employees in steam and
water turbine, aero engine, electric power
equipment and domestic appliance manufacture |
| 1968 |
Managing
Director of English Electric Computers and
formation of ICL |
| 1970 |
Founder
Chairman and Chief Executive of new ball bearing
company RHP |
| 1977 |
Knighted for
services to industry |
| 1977 |
Chairman and
Chief Executive of the Post Office |
| 1980 |
Completes
split of the Post Office and British Telecom |
| 1981 |
Chairman of
Thorn EMI Engineering Group |
| 1984 |
Chairman and
Chief Executive of cable and construction group
BICC |
| 1988 |
A founder
non-executive director of Vodafone Group |
| 1992 |
Chairman of Ericsson UK |
| 1997 |
Chairman
Parsons Brinckerhoff Europe |
Read the appreciation for Sir William
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