Title
Biographical correspondence
Reference
UK0108 SC MSS 249/04
Date
1937 to 1995
Creator
Scope and Content
Biographical correspondence and material including;
1. Correspondence between Calverley and his school, King Edward VI School, Stafford (1937).
2. King's College Engineering Society material.
3. Correspondence with the IEE. The subjects covered include; the award of the Salmon's Scholarship for 1939-40; the award of a premium for his South Midland Students' Section paper, 'electrical technique in resistance welding', given in 1945; Calverley's Chairmanship of the North Staffordshire Sub-Centre of the IEE 1961-1962; and Calverley's position as IEE Vice President from 1980 to 1984.
4. Correspondence between Calverley and his employers related to his career including; Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge; English Electric (merged with GEC in 1968); and Preece Cardew & Rider (laterley Ewbank Preece Limited). Correspondence covers the period, 1945-1988.
5. Correspondence with the University of London and others regarding the conferring of his Degree of Docotor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Engineering (1957).
6. Calverley's article in The South African Electrical Review, January 1968, titled, 'high voltage dc transmission'. The photograph used in the article is also present (photographer or copyright owner not named on photograph).
7. Interview with Calverley in Time & Tide, 8-14 August 1968, titled, 'electricity: the faith of a father and son' (with photograph). The photograph used in the article is also present (photograph ST. 68/1116, copyright owner English Electric). There are 2 further photographs, from the same photoshoot, not used in the article (photographs ST. 68/1115 and ST. 68/1117).
8. Signed tribute sheet from employees at English Electric upon Calverley's leaving in 1970. Also photographs of presentation to Calverley by John Sully of English Electric (English Electric photographs ST. 70/495 and ST. 70/496). In addition a personal signed letter from Henry Nelson (2nd Baron Nelson of Stafford), the Chairman of English Electric/GEC from 1962 to 1983, dated 5 May 1970.
9. Group photograph taken upon the opening of Preece House, 29 February 1980. Photograph shows HRH Prince Philip being introduced to individuals including Calverley.
10. Correspondence with CIGRE (Conference Internationale des Grandes Reseaux Electriques a Haute Tension), regarding Calverley's Chairmanship of Study Committee 14: DC Links (1981-1988).
11. Signed menus from dinner to mark retirement of Calverley from Ewbank Preece (25 April 1983), although he continued to act as a consultant for the company after that date.
12. Correspondence with IEEE including; certificate of election to Fellow (1 January 1984); and letters and documents relating to the award to Calverley of the 1994 IEEE Uno Lamm HVDC Award and photographs from the award ceremony.
13. Correspondence with the Fellowship of Engineering upon Calverley's election as a Fellow (1985).
Exent
1 envelope
Admin. history/Biography
IET Member News obituary November 2013;
"Dr Thomas Earnshaw Calverley; One of the UK's one-thousand most eminent engineers. IET Fellow Dr Thomas Calverley had an outstanding career with English Electric Stafford, serving as chief engineer of the Rectifier Division during which time he guided British Rail to the choice of electrifying their railways at 25kV AC, since the standard for railways all over the world. He had responsibility for the development of all electrical products made in the Stafford factories. He led English Electric into the development of High-Voltage DC Transmission, leading major projects for which he applied for and won one of the very first Queen's Awards for Industry.
In 1970 he joined consulting engineers Preece Cardew & Rider as a partner and led projects of power stations, power transmission, railways and some of the largest HVDC Transmission schemes in the world, in Africa, Canada, Brazil, and South-East Asia. During this time, he jointly led a number of railway and mass-transit initiatives through a joint venture, Mott Hay-Preece Cardew.
On his official retirement at 65, which coincided with the merger between Preece Cardew & Rider and Ewbank & Partners in 1983, he was honoured by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being one of the UK's 1,000 most eminent engineers. He continued for several years to be very active in the field of HVDC Transmission, chairing the international body of CIGRE, the Council on Large Electric Systems, for HVDC Links, and in 1994 at the age of 76 was awarded the highly prestigious Uno Lamm Award by the American IEEE. Tom died peacefully at his home in Rodmell, East Sussex, UK, at the age of 95."
Persons keyword
Conditions governing access
Open.
Level of description
file
