Francis Arthur Perkins (20 February 1889 – 15 October 1967) was a British engineer, businessman, creator of the Perkins Diesel Engine, and founder of

Perkins Engines Perkins Engines Company Limited, a subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc since 1998, is primarily a diesel engine manufacturer for several markets including agricultural, construction, material handling, power generation, and industrial. It was establis ...

Background and early life

Perkins was born in

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

, the son of John Edward Sharman Perkins, a manufacturer of agricultural machinery, and his wife Margaret Charlotte Long. His brother Christopher Perkins became a noted artist, and both boys were educated at

Gresham's School Gresham's School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent Day school, day and boarding school) in Holt, Norfolk, Holt, Norfolk, England, one of the top thirty International Bac ...

Holt, Norfolk Holt is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in the English county of Norfolk. The town is north of the city of Norwich, west of Cromer and east of King's Lynn. The town has a population of 3,550, rising and including the ward to ...

. Frank attended

Rugby School Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. Up ...

(1902–1904), Gresham's (1904–1907), and

Emmanuel College, Cambridge Emmanuel College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1584 by Sir Walter Mildmay, Chancellor of the Exchequer to Elizabeth I. The site on which the college sits was once a priory for Dominican mon ...

, (1907–1910) gaining a pass degree in mechanical engineering in 1910.

War service

At the beginning of 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 ...

, Perkins volunteered for the army and, in October 1914, was commissioned in the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

. He served in its 34th divisional company in the

Dardanelles The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

, and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. He was demobilised in 1918 with the rank of major.

Career

He was a third generation engineer, following both his grandfather and father, who both worked for

Barford & Perkins Barford & Perkins were road roller and agricultural machinery manufacturers in Peterborough, England. The original business began in 1840. Their machinery was distributed internationally. In 1920 it joined the engineering combine Agricultural ...

, a family firm that manufactured

road construction A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

rollers/compactors, agricultural rollers, and other agricultural

machinery A machine is a physical system using power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromolecule ...

. However, before joining the family firm at its Queen Street ironworks in Peterborough, he worked for Lawes Chemicals Ltd. While later working at

Aveling & Porter Aveling and Porter was a British agricultural engine and steamroller (road roller) manufacturer. Thomas Aveling and Richard Thomas Porter entered into partnership in 1862, and developed a steam engine three years later in 1865. By the earl ...

Rochester, Kent Rochester ( ) is a town in the unitary authority of Medway, in Kent, England. It is at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway, about from London. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Rainham, Strood and Gillin ...

, Perkins started working on a high-speed, light-weight,

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

with Charles Chapman. Before they could complete the project, Aveling & Porter went bankrupt. Convinced that the scheme would be profitable in serving the agricultural tractor market, the two formed their own company, F. Perkins Limited, on 7 June 1932, initially with four employees and based in a rented workshop. Chapman was the technical director and Perkins the chairman. Perkins would go on building new engines and building the company until 1959, when at the age of seventy he sold a majority stake to his largest customer,

Massey Ferguson Massey Ferguson Limited is an American agricultural machinery manufacturer. The company was established in 1953 through the merger of farm equipment makers Massey-Harris of Canada and the Ferguson Company of the United Kingdom. It was based in T ...

. He was president of the

Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) is the trade association for the United Kingdom motor industry. Its role is to "promote the interests of the UK automotive industry at home and abroad." History SMMT was founded by Frede ...

(1956–57) and

Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire This is an ''incomplete'' list of Sheriffs of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire in England from 1154 until the abolition of the office in 1965. Exceptionally, the two counties shared a single sheriff. Sheriffs had a one-year term of office, bei ...

(1956–57). He died at his home,

Alwalton Alwalton is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Alwalton lies approximately west of Peterborough city centre. Alwalton is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Camb ...

Hall, near Peterborough, in 1967. There is a plaque to his memory in Alwalton parish church where

Henry Royce Sir Frederick Henry Royce, 1st Baronet, (27 March 1863 – 22 April 1933) was an English engineer famous for his designs of car and aeroplane engines with a reputation for reliability and longevity. With Charles Rolls (1877–1910) and Claude ...

(1863–1933), co-founder of Rolls-Royce, is also commemorated. A section of the

A1139 The City of Peterborough in East Anglia has an extensive and well integrated road network, owing partly to its status as a new town. Since the 1960s, the city has seen considerable expansion and its various suburbs are linked by a system of p ...

through Peterborough is named Frank Perkins Parkway.

Family

In 1915, while on leave from the Royal Engineers, Perkins married Susan Gwynneth Gee, the daughter of Hugh Roberts Williams. They had one son and three daughters.

Sources and further reading

References

*''Perkins, Francis Arthur

rank Rank is the relative position, value, worth, complexity, power, importance, authority, level, etc. of a person or object within a ranking, such as: Level or position in a hierarchical organization * Academic rank * Diplomatic rank * Hierarchy * H ...

(1889–1967), diesel engine manufacturer'' by Anne Pimlott Baker in

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

External links

Perkins Engines Company
1889 births 1967 deaths People educated at Gresham's School Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge British automotive engineers People from Peterborough British automotive pioneers Perkins engines Royal Engineers officers British Army personnel of World War I {{England-engineer-stub