Sir Arthur Frederick Sidgreaves (12 June 1882 – 7 June 1948) was a British businessman who was head of

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

, notably during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Early life

He was born 12 June 1882 in the

Malay States The monarchies of Malaysia refer to the constitutional monarchy system as practised in Malaysia. The political system of Malaysia is based on the Westminster parliamentary system in combination with features of a federation. Nine of the states ...

, the son of Sir

Thomas Sidgreaves Sir Thomas Sidgreaves (25 October 1831 – 23 December 1889) was a British colonial judge who was Chief Justice of the Straits Settlements from 1871 to 1886. Sidgreaves was born in Preston, Lancashire into a Catholic family, the second son of Ge ...

, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the

Straits Settlements The Straits Settlements were a group of British territories located in Southeast Asia. Headquartered in Singapore for more than a century, it was originally established in 1826 as part of the territories controlled by the British East India Comp ...

, and Barbara Catharine. His father, suffering from financial problems, committed suicide in 1890. He attended

Downside School Downside School is a co-educational Catholic independent boarding and day school in the English public school tradition for pupils aged 11 to 18. It is located between Bath, Frome, Wells and Bruton, and is attached to Downside Abbey. Originall ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. In the First World War, he served in the

RNAS The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

and

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

Career

Rolls-Royce

He joined Rolls-Royce in July 1920, where he was export manager in the London offices. In 1926 he became General Sales Manager. In 1929 he became managing director, where he was managing director for 17 years, and throughout the war. From 1935, the British government introduced its shadow factory programme, and he jointly instigated the Rolls-Royce factory to produce the

Rolls-Royce Merlin The Rolls-Royce Merlin is a British liquid-cooled V-12 piston aero engine of 27-litres (1,650 cu in) capacity. Rolls-Royce designed the engine and first ran it in 1933 as a private venture. Initially known as the PV-12, it was later ...

engine in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

. Another factory was built at

Hillington, Scotland Hillington ( sco, Hullintoun, gd, Hileantan)
is an ar ...

, which went into production six months after commencement of being built. He helped get the Merlin engine manufactured in the US, under licence. It was his decision that the

Merlin engine Merlin engine may refer to: *Rolls-Royce Merlin, an aircraft engine *Merlin (rocket engine family) Merlin ( cy, Myrddin, kw, Marzhin, br, Merzhin) is a mythical figure prominently featured in the legend of King Arthur and best known as a mag ...

was developed. He also took a part in developing the jet engine. He had no vast technical knowledge, but was an astute, and no-nonsense, businessman.

Personal life

He lived at

Penn, Buckinghamshire Penn is a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of Beaconsfield and east of High Wycombe. The parish's cover Penn village and the hamlets of Penn Street, Knotty Green, Forty Green, Penn, Forty Green and Winchm ...

. He was appointed the OBE in 1918. In 1938 he married Dorothy Jessica in

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th cen ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

. An earlier marriage in 1916 in Kensington had produced two sons in 1917 and 1921. In the

1945 New Year Honours The 1945 New Year Honours were appointments by many of the Commonwealth realms of King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced on 1 January 1945 for the British ...

, he was knighted for his services during the war. On Monday 7 June 1948, disturbed by an unfavourable medical report, he threw himself under a train at Green Park underground station.Flight International 17 June 1948
/ref> He had a throat infection and was 66.

References

External links

Grace's Guide
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sidgreaves, Arthur 1882 births 1948 deaths British manufacturing chief executives Knights Bachelor Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Downside School People from Chiltern District Rolls-Royce people Royal Air Force personnel of World War I Royal Naval Air Service personnel of World War I 20th-century British businesspeople British people in British Malaya