Harry Pilkington
Template:Short description Template:Use British English Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Script error: No such module "infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".Script error: No such module "Check for clobbered parameters".Template:Wikidata image William Henry Pilkington, Baron Pilkington (29 April 1905 – 23 December 1983) was an English glass manufacturer and president of the Federation of British Industries. He is remembered politically as chairman of the Pilkington Committee that produced the controversial Pilkington Report of 1962. He was also Chancellor of Loughborough University from 1966 to 1980.[1]
Early life and education
Pilkington was born in St Helens, Lancashire, the eldest son of Richard Austin Pilkington (1871-1951), JP, of Eccleston Grange, St Helens, a director of the family glass-manufacturing business, Pilkington Brothers Ltd,[2] and his wife, Hope (1876-1947), daughter of the politician and judge Herbert Cozens-Hardy, 1st Baron Cozens-Hardy.[3]
His younger brother, Lawrence, would join him as a director of the family business; the third brother was the biologist and writer Roger Pilkington.[4] His sister Margaret was a Girl Guide leader, awarded an MBE and a Silver Fish Award for her work with the Guide International Service.
The Pilkington family was Congregationalist.[5] He was educated at Rugby School and Magdalene College, Cambridge.[1]
Pilkington Brothers Ltd
Pilkington joined the board of the family business, Pilkington Brothers Ltd, in 1934 and served as chairman from 1949 to 1973. This glass manufacturing company became the lone survivor of twenty-four British glass manufacturers from the 19th century. While other companies died from competition, the Pilkington company advanced its techniques, especially in safety glass and glass sheets, using the company's proprietary float glass process.[6] In 1967 the company controlled 85% of the glass-making business in the United Kingdom and exported its products to over 100 countries.
Pilkington Report
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Personal life
In 1930, Pilkington married Rosamond[7] Margaret, daughter of Royal Army Medical Corps Colonel Henry Davis Rowan of Rathmore, Greystones, County Wicklow, Ireland. Rosamond died in 1953, having had with her husband a son and two daughters. He subsequently married Mavis Joy Doreen, daughter of master reed-maker Gilbert Caffrey of Woodleigh, Lostock Park, Bolton, and former wife of Dr John Hesketh Wilding.[8][9][10][11]
Pilkington was known for his 'warm-hearted personality'; when a young couple moved in nearby, they decided to grow roses but lacked the experience in pruning. The wife was acquainted with Pilkington's gardener at Windle Hall, and made a phone call; the then-Lady Pilkington answered, telling her 'I'll pass the message on, but Harry prunes all ours'- within the hour, Pilkington arrived at the couple's house by bicycle, equipped with pruning shears.
Even as a Governor of the Bank of England, Pilkington cycled around London, 'to the delight and consternation of those who knew him.'[12]
Arms
Honours
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Knighted in the 1953 New Years Honours List,[13] Pilkington was created a Life Peer on 18 January 1968 in the 1968 New Years Honours List, taking the title Baron Pilkington, of St Helens in the County Palatine of Lancaster.[14] He was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Science (D.Sc) by Loughborough University in 1966.[15]
References
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- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ The Directory of Directors, Thomas Skinner & Co., 1927, p. 1242
- ↑ Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, ed. Peter Townend, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1970, p. 1248
- ↑ Burke's Landed Gentry, 14th edition, ed. Alfred T. Butler, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1925, p. 1353
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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- ↑ Published sources give both this spelling and "Rosamund"
- ↑ Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage, Debrett's Peerage Ltd, 1973, p. 893
- ↑ Dod's Parliamentary Companion, 136th edition, 1968, p. 218
- ↑ Glass Technology, vol. 25, collected issues 2-6, 1984, p. 54
- ↑ The International Year Book and Statesman's Who's Who, International Publications Service, 1983, p. 540
- ↑ https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbm.2022.0025
- ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".Script error: No such module "London Gazette util".
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External links
- National Portrait Gallery, London – Sir Harry sat for six portraits
- "Pilkington Shines Again". Time. 15 December 1967.
- New Yorker magazine commenting upon the Pilkington Report, July 1962.
- Speech by Sir Harry to the Empire Club of Canada - 1 December 1955, Toronto, Canada.
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