Harold Hankins

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

FREng Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and Scholarship, fellowship for engineers who are recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being the best and brightest engineers, inventors and technologists in the UK a ...

(18 October 1930 – 2 May 2009) was a British

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 ...

and the first

Vice-Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and former Commonwealth n ...

UMIST The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) was a university based in the centre of the city of Manchester in England. It specialised in technical and scientific subjects and was a major centre for research. On 1 Oct ...

Early life and education

Hankins was born 18 October 1930 in

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...

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 ...

and at the age of 16 began an apprenticeship with the

London Midland and Scottish Railway The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally ...

. He continued to study with evening classes at Manchester Municipal College of Technology, gaining a first class honours degree in 1955.The Independent 2 July 2009
''Professor Harold Hankins: Communications engineer who went on to lead UMIST to a position of academic eminence''

Career

In 1955 he joined

Metropolitan-Vickers Metropolitan-Vickers, Metrovick, or Metrovicks, was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse. Highly diversified, it was particularly well known for its industrial el ...

rising to the position of assistant chief engineer, doing research into communication systems. The company changed into AEI and he led a team developing communication systems for rockets including

Blue Streak Blue Streak or Bluestreak may refer to: Entertainment * ''Blue Streak'' (album), a 1995 album by American blues guitarist Luther Allison * Blue Streak (comics), a secret identity used by three separate Marvel Comics supervillains * Bluestreak (c ...

. In 1968 he joined UMIST as a lecturer, completing a PhD by part-time study and becoming Professor of

Communication Engineering Telecommunications Engineering is a subfield of electrical engineering which seeks to design and devise systems of communication at a distance. The work ranges from basic circuit design to strategic mass developments. A telecommunication engine ...

in 1974 and Head of Department of

Electrical Engineering 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 ...

and

Electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

in 1977. In 1979 he became Vice-Principal of UMIST, Acting Principal in 1982 and Principal in 1984. At this time UMIST was technically a faculty of the

Victoria University of Manchester The Victoria University of Manchester, usually referred to as simply the University of Manchester, was a university in Manchester, England. It was founded in 1851 as Owens College. In 1880, the college joined the federal Victoria University. Afte ...

which awarded the degrees. In 1992 UMIST became a separate university in its own right, and Hankins was its first Vice-Chancellor until his retirement in 1995. He is commemorated in the Harold Hankins Building housing the

Manchester Institute of Innovation Research Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (MIoIR) is a research institute based in Alliance Manchester Business School at the University of Manchester, UK. MIoIR is a centre of excellence in the field of innovation studies, which includes t ...

. In 1993 he was elected a

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

of the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senior ...

and in 1996 he was appointed a

for "services to education".

Personal life

In 1955 he married Kathleen Higginbottom: they had three sons. He died in

Glossop Glossop is a market town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is located east of Manchester, north-west of Sheffield and north of the county town, Matlock. Glossop lies near Derbyshire's borders with Cheshire, Greater Manches ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

on 2 May 2009.

References

The Guardian 5 August 2009

John Garside Professor John Garside is a British chemical engineer who was the last Vice-Chancellor of UMIST. Life Garside was born 9 October 1941,

: Obituary Harold Hankins
Times Higher Education 6 August 2009
Matthew Reisz: Obituary Harold Hankins, 1930–2009

External links

Your Manchester Online
Obituary - Harold Hankins (includes photograph) {{DEFAULTSORT:Hankins, Harold British electrical engineers 1930 births 2009 deaths People from Crewe Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Academics of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology Alumni of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology Vice-Chancellors of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology