Edward Manville
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Sir Edward Manville (formerly Mosely, 27 September 1862,
Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...
– 17 March 1933, London) M.Inst.E.E., was a British consulting
electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
,
industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...
and
politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
. After a successful career as an electrical engineering consultant for local and foreign projects, Manville became chairman of Daimler Motor Company, later
Daimler Company The Daimler Company Limited ( ), prior to 1910 The Daimler Motor Company Limited, was an independent British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in London by H. J. Lawson in 1896, which set up its manufacturing base in Coventry. The compan ...
, from 1905 to 1933. He was also the chairman of several other companies, including the Baird Television Development Company throughout its existence from 1927 to 1928. He served as Member of Parliament for
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from 1918 to 1923.


Early life

Manville was born in
Paddington, London Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...
27 September 1862 to London surgeon dentist Benjamin Ephraim Manville (formerly Mosely) and Adeline Hyam, who were
Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
.
William D. Rubinstein William D. Rubinstein (born 12 August 1946) is a historian and author. His best-known work, ''Men of Property: The Very Wealthy in Britain Since the Industrial Revolution'', charts the rise of the ' super rich', a class he sees as expanding ex ...
, Michael Jolles,
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, ''The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History'', Palgrave Macmillan (2011), p. 642
He was educated at
University College School ("Slowly but surely") , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day school , religion = , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Mark Beard , r_head_label = , r_hea ...
, London and technical institutions.


Electrical engineering


Early career and projects

Manville had been attracted to the practical study of electricity at a time of invention and discovery. He obtained an apprenticeship with the well-known electrical firm of Woodhouse and Rawson where he met Madgen, with whom he first set up a practice as consulting electrical engineers. He later joined the
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firm of Kincaid and Waller, and was responsible for many important undertakings, including the
tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
system of
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, considered a model of its kind.


Association with Dudley Docker

Manville, a pioneer British of electro-technology, was a partner in a Westminster electrical engineering consultancy which advised on the electrification of the
London, Brighton and South Coast Railway The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR; known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its ...
and Docker's Metropolitan Amalgamated Carriage and Wagon Company supplied the equipment. They both served on the board of directors of the
Metropolitan Railway The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...
and they stuck together during the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, with Manville leading the Association of British Chambers of Commerce and Docker presiding over the Federation of British Industry.


Motor industry

In the
automobile industry The automotive industry comprises a wide range of companies and organizations involved in the design, development, manufacturing, marketing, and selling of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industries by revenue (from 16 % such ...
, as chairman of both
Birmingham Small Arms Company The Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited (BSA) was a major British industrial combine, a group of businesses manufacturing military and sporting firearms; bicycles; motorcycles; cars; buses and bodies; steel; iron castings; hand tool, hand, po ...
and its wholly owned subsidiary The Daimler Company, he personally brought about the introduction of the Knight sleeve-valve engine and its acquisition by Daimler, and the incorporation of the fluid
flywheel A flywheel is a mechanical device which uses the conservation of angular momentum to store rotational energy; a form of kinetic energy proportional to the product of its moment of inertia and the square of its rotational speed. In particular, ass ...
and
epicyclic An epicyclic gear train (also known as a planetary gearset) consists of two gears mounted so that the center of one gear revolves around the center of the other. A carrier connects the centers of the two gears and rotates the planet and sun gea ...
transmission system throughout Daimler's full range of vehicles. He shared his electrical engineering background with Daimler's managing director, American-born Percy Martin. Together they took Daimler to its greatest success, with Manville serving on its board for 28 years, from 1905 until his death in 1933. With backgrounds as electrical engineers, Martin and Manville often chose projects based on technical viability instead of commercial value. Under their leadership, Daimler had a sedate image, seeming to cater to "dowagers or the dead". Lanchester was acquired with the intent to show a different image, but in the event their cars, like BSA's, became Daimlers wearing different names. Manville was president of The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders from 1907 to 1913. Manville's election to the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
was an outcome of his association with Daimler.


Motorsport

In his early days on Daimler's board, Manville drove works-prepared cars in competition. His first wife, Maud, would also compete, driving another car. The Manvilles competed in the five-day Herkomer Trophy in 1905 and 1906. Maud, driving a works-prepared 45 hp Daimler, won the speed section of the 1905 event ahead of Edward, who took second place in that section. In the 1906 event, however, they were uncompetitive against thinly-disguised racing cars, and Maud finished in 11th place, just behind the highest-placed Daimler. The Kaiser's brother, Prince Henry of Prussia, apologised to her for the lack of consideration from most of the other entrants. Manville stated that Daimler would not compete in the event again.


Parliament

Edward Manville was Unionist member of Parliament for
Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
from 1918 to 1923 and was knighted in 1923 at the end of his term.


Involvement with early television development

Manville was first chairman of the Baird Television Development Company, which held its first meeting on 18 July 1927. The object of the company was to develop commercially the Baird television and other inventions. As a professional electrical engineer, Manville felt obliged to keep abreast of all of Baird's developments. His frequent questions and suggestions irritated Baird, who altered the doorway to his laboratory to be too narrow for Manville to pass through without effort. Baird said he preferred to keep a distance from Manville's "booming voice" and just view him at the far end of the boardroom table "like a florid sunset seen through a cloud of cigar smoke". Commercial exploitation was continued by Baird International Television Limited, launched in June 1928. Government and
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
having become important,
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, a former acting
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, was made chairman and Manville a director.


Other interests and involvements

Manville was also chairman of Car and General Insurance Corporation, Reinsurance Corporation and Phoenix Oil and Transport. In addition, he was formerly president of the
Association of British Chambers of Commerce Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...
and vice-president of the
Federation of British Industries The Federation of British Industries (FBI) was an employers' association in the United Kingdom. Founded by the Midlands industrialist Dudley Docker in 1916 as the United British Industries' Association, but renamed later that same year, it was in ...
, as well as a director of about 15 other companies. When compelled to reveal all directorships by the 1930 Companies Act, Manville reported that he was on 27 boards of directors. He found time for civil and
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activities and was a Past Master of several
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Livery Companies.


Death

Sir Edward Manville died after a short illness in London on 17 March 1933, aged 70. He was survived by his second wife Rachel, daughter of Mr. John Holmes, a civil engineer of Calcutta who died in 1940. His first wife, Maud, daughter of Colonel C.T. Wallis, had died in 1909. There were no children from either marriage.


Notes


References

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External links

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SIR EDWARD MANVILLE SCHOLARSHIP FUND
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manville, Edward 1862 births 1933 deaths Businesspeople from London Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Coventry Daimler people English Jews Jewish British politicians English electrical engineers UK MPs 1918–1922 UK MPs 1922–1923