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The Fellowship
Hall of Fame
 Viscount Caldecote KBE DSC DL FEng
President of The Royal Academy of Engineering 1981-1986
Robin Inskip, 2nd
Viscount Caldecote, was an engineer and
industrialist who campaigned tirelessly for
the regeneration of British industry,
championing innovation and competitive
product development. When he became Chairman
of Investors in Industry (now 3i) he
denounced Britain as being in the “third
division of the league of industrialised
nations”. He wanted to see more engineers on
the boards of British companies to enable
new product development and he used his
presidency of The Academy to encourage
excellence in engineering. As a member of
the House of Lords for over 40 years, he
spoke regularly on industry, education and
the environment.
He negotiated with the
Government and Vickers Armstrong to form BAC
in 1959, but in 1965 clashed with the
Government when Secretary of State Dennis
Healey cancelled the TSH2 tactical
bomber/reconnaissance aircraft that the new
company had designed and built. Caldecote
warned the Government that, unless it
supported long-term development, the British
aircraft industry would succumb to
competition from the US. He was equally
critical of the Thatcher government 25 years
later, chairing a House of Lords report that
Britain’s industrial base was so badly
damaged that huge foreign investment would
be required to sustain it.
Caldecote believed
that business people had an active duty to
society and served on countless public
bodies, including the General Council of the
BBC and the Marie Rose Trust. He chaired
many government and industry bodies
including the Design Council (1972-80) and
the Export Council for Europe. He was also
President of the Royal Institute of Naval
Architects.
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1917 |
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Born 8 October in London
Educated at Eton |
| 1939 |
Graduates from Kings College, Cambridge, with a first in engineering |
| 1939 |
Commissioned in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and serves throughout World War 2 in minesweepers and destroyers, becoming a lieutenant commander |
| 1941 |
Receives the DSC for his role aboard the destroyer Kingston during the evacuation of the British Army from Greece |
| 1947 |
Succeeds his father, the first Viscount Caldecote, and takes his seat in the House of Lords as a Conservative |
| 1949 |
Returns to Cambridge as an engineering ecturer and later becomes a director of English Electric |
| 1960 |
Managing Director, English Electric Aviation |
| 1961 |
Deputy Managing Director of the new British Aircraft Corporation |
| 1969 |
Resigns from English Electric in protest at its merger with GEC |
| 1972 |
Chairman of the Delta Metal Co. |
| 1976 |
Pro-Chancellor, Cranfield Institute of Technology |
| 1977 |
Chairman, Legal & General |
| 1980 |
Chairman of Investors in Industry (now 3i) |
| 1981 |
President of The Royal Academy of Engineering |
| 1987 |
Knighted for services to industry |
| 1990 |
Chairman of the Crown Appointments Committee that recommended Dr George Carey as Archbishop of Canterbury |
| 1999 |
Dies 20 September aged 81 |
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