Mervyn Joseph Pius O'Gorman (19 December 1871 – 16 March 1958) was a British electrical and aircraft engineer. After working as an electrical engineer, he was appointed Superintendent of what became the

Royal Aircraft Factory Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

at Farnborough in Hampshire in 1909. In 1916, following a scandal over the quality of the aircraft used by the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

, he was removed from this post but continued to act in an advisory capacity. After the war he concentrated his energies on motoring issues, particularly road safety and traffic management, and played an important part in the publication of the

Highway Code ''The Highway Code'' is a set of information, advice, guides and mandatory rules for road users in the United Kingdom. Its objective is to promote road safety. The ''Highway Code'' applies to all road users including pedestrians, horse riders ...

. He died in 1958 in

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, London.

Birth and early life

Mervyn Gorman was born in Brighton on 19 December 1871, the son of Edmund Anthony Gorman (1821-1912) and his third wife Margaret Eliza Barclay Crawford (1849-1899). Later in life, Mervyn readopted the O' prefix to his surname, which had been dropped by his Irish great-grandfather Thomas O'Gorman (1724–1800) after he moved to England in 1747. Sources give various addresses for Mervyn's father: East Bergholt, Suffolk;

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and the administrative centre of the Borough of Harrogate in North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor at ...

, Yorkshire; and Monamore, County Clare, Ireland. Mervyn was educated at

St Edmund's College, Ware St Edmund's College is a coeducational independent day and boarding school in the British public school tradition, set in in Ware, Hertfordshire. Founded in 1568 as a seminary, then a boys' school, it is the oldest continuously operating and ...

, at

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 ...

and at

University College, Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

, where he read classics and science.

Early career

In 1891 O'Gorman went to London to study electrical engineering at the City and Guilds Central Institution. He was elected an associate member of the

Institution of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 120,000 member ...

in 1893, and obtained his City and Guilds diploma in 1894, his marks being amongst the best in his year. On graduating he obtained a position as an assistant engineer at the Fowler, Waring Cables Company, and was sent to take charge of the company's cable networks in

Ostend Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...

and

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

. Back in England he assisted with the laying of 3000 volt systems in

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

and

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

, and took part in experiments on the use of

celluloid Celluloids are a class of materials produced by mixing nitrocellulose and camphor, often with added dyes and other agents. Once much more common for its use as photographic film before the advent of safer methods, celluloid's common contemporar ...

as an insulator. He was rapidly promoted to chief engineer, and reorganised the company's factory near London before being sent to Paris in 1895 to set up a new cable factory for a French company; in 1896 he became Fowler Waring's general manager. In 1898 Fowler Waring became part of Western Electric and O'Gorman left the company and started an engineering consultancy at 66 Victoria Street, London in partnership with E. H. Cozens-Hardy. The partnership was brought to an end in October 1908 when Cozens-Hardy left London for St Helens to take a place on the board of the glass manufacturers

Pilkington Pilkington is a Japanese-owned glass-manufacturing company which is based in Lathom, Lancashire, United Kingdom. In the UK it includes several legal entities and is a subsidiary of Japanese company NSG Group. Prior to its acquisition by NSG i ...

s. O'Gorman was a keen motorist, being an active member of the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland, and he published a book on the subject, ''O'Gorman's Motoring Pocket Book'', in 1904; he also wrote articles on motoring for ''The Times''. In August 1908 at a race meeting at

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

, the mechanic accompanying one of the racers in the first O'Gorman Trophy race was killed in an accident after a Mercedes two-seater was taken high up on the banks to pass another car - both going at speed. The Mercedes lost control and careened across the track ejecting both occupants resulting in the death of the 21 year old mechanic.

Royal Aircraft Factory

In 1909

R. B. Haldane Richard Burdon Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane, (; 30 July 1856 – 19 August 1928) was a British lawyer and philosopher and an influential Liberal and later Labour politician. He was Secretary of State for War between 1905 and 1912 during wh ...

, then

Secretary of State for War The Secretary of State for War, commonly called War Secretary, was a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, which existed from 1794 to 1801 and from 1854 to 1964. The Secretary of State for War headed the War Office and ...

, selected O'Gorman as the person who would bring his vision of order and scientific discipline to the development of military aviation. As a part of this programme, the Balloon Factory at Farnborough was to be removed from the military and placed under civilian scientific administration. In October 1909 O'Gorman was appointed as the first civilian Superintendent of the Balloon Factory. He replaced Col.

John Capper Major-General Sir John Edward Capper (7 December 1861 − 24 May 1955) was a senior officer of the British Army during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century who served on the North-West Frontier of British India, in South Africa and ...

, who retained his command of the Army Balloon School also located there. When O'Gorman took over the Balloon Factory, official interest was still focussed on lighter-than-air flight. Some highly secret experiments had been conducted by

J. W. Dunne John William Dunne (2 December 1875 – 24 August 1949) was a British soldier, aeronautical engineer and philosopher. As a young man he fought in the Second Boer War, before becoming a pioneering aeroplane designer in the early years of the 20th ...

Blair Atholl Blair Atholl (from the Scottish Gaelic: ''Blàr Athall'', originally ''Blàr Ath Fhodla'') is a village in Perthshire, Scotland, built about the confluence of the Rivers Tilt and Garry in one of the few areas of flat land in the midst of the Gr ...

, and S. F. Cody had built and flown the

British Army Aeroplane No 1 The British Army Aeroplane No 1 or sometimes Cody 1 was a biplane built by Samuel Franklin Cody in 1907 at the Army Balloon Factory at Farnborough. It made the first recognised powered and sustained flight in the United Kingdom on 16 October 1 ...

, but all funding had been withdrawn from both of these projects in April 1909. The British Army Airship No.2 was then under construction at the Balloon Factory. The new system, under which O'Gorman reported directly to the Master-General of the Ordnance at the

War Office The War Office was a department of the British Government responsible for the administration of the British Army between 1857 and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the new Ministry of Defence (MoD). This article contains text from ...

, was intended to bypass military traditionalists, many of whom failed to see any military value in aircraft of any description. The purpose of what was to become known as the Royal Aircraft Factory was to be research, carried out in conjunction with the National Physical Laboratory at

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. (The title Royal Aircraft Factory is misleading since it was never the intention to mass produce aircraft; rather, research would be carried out, leading to designs which would be manufactured by private companies.) O'Gorman devised a system of categorising aircraft according to their layout.

Pusher configuration In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration), the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). Since a pusher propeller is mounted behind the engine, the drive shaft is in compression in nor ...

aircraft with a forward

elevator An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...

in addition to a rear-mounted tailplane and rudder carried on booms were designated as ''Farman Type'', after the highly successful and widely imitated

Farman III The Farman III, also known as the Henry Farman 1909 biplane, was an early French aircraft designed and built by Henry FarmanCanard configuration aircraft became ''Santos Type'', after

Alberto Santos Dumont Alberto Santos-Dumont ( Palmira, 20 July 1873 — Guarujá, 23 July 1932) was a Brazilian aeronaut, sportsman, inventor, and one of the few people to have contributed significantly to the early development of both lighter-than-air and heavier- ...

14-bis The ''14-bis'' (french: Quatorze-bis), (), also known as ("bird of prey" in French), was a pioneer era, canard-style biplane designed and built by Brazilian aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont. In 1906, near Paris, the ''14-bis'' made a m ...

aircraft, and

tractor configuration In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. Oppositely, the pusher c ...

aircraft were designated ''Blériot Type'' after Louis Blériot's Type XI, a system set forth in an article entitled ''Some Problems in Aircraft Design'' published in ''Flight'' in 1911. Accordingly De Havilland's aircraft was renamed the Farman Experimental I, or ''F.E.1''. Although the remit of the Factory did not include the actual construction of aircraft, experimental alterations were sanctioned. Under O'Gorman a system of 'repairing' aircraft by replacing the entire airframe, often changing the basic configuration of the aircraft, was instituted. A letter from Theodore Ridge, the Works Superintendent, is worth quoting in full:

With reference to the Voisin Machine recently presented by the Duke of Westminster and delivered to the Wolsley (sic) Tools and Motor Co., I have to report that the method of controlling and steering this machine is obsolete and different to any present make; that the wood frame of the wings struts and canvas covering have deteriorated to such a degree that they should be replaced if the machine is to be flown in safety. I therefore desire to recommend that I may be instructed to fit this machine with certain spare wings and struts which I have in stock and alter the controls so that it is similar to the Farman type, and thus enable the machine to be flown by anyone qualified to fly a Farman type machine. I am in a position to effect these alterations quickly and economically and it would then be equal to a good Farman machine.

The first aircraft produced under this system was the S.E.1, ostensibly a refurbishment of a Blériot XII. This was destroyed in a crash before flight testing was complete, killing Ridge. In the hands of Geoffrey de Havilland the

Voisin Voisin (French for "neighbour") may refer to: Companies *Avions Voisin, the French automobile company :*Voisin Laboratoire, a car manufactured by Avions Voisin *Voisin (aircraft), the French aircraft manufacturer * Voisin, a Lyon-based chocolat ...

which had been donated to the Army Air Battalion by the Duke of Westminster was reborn as the B.E.1, a neat biplane with an excellent performance which first took to the air in December 1911. The B.E.1 was followed by the almost identical

B.E.2 The Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2 was a British single-engine tractor two-seat biplane designed and developed at the Royal Aircraft Factory. Most of the roughly 3,500 built were constructed under contract by private companies, including establish ...

and a series of other aircraft, ostensibly improvements of the motley collection of aircraft in the Factory's possession, which in some cases did not even retain the original engine. It is ironic that the first visible fruits of a programme intended to bring order to chaos were the result of a subversion of the system. RAESE1

The rational system of aircraft procurement was to be exemplified by the Military Aircraft Competition held on

Salisbury Plain Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in the south western part of central southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies wi ...

Larkhill Larkhill is a garrison town in the civil parish of Durrington, Wiltshire, England. It lies about west of the centre of Durrington village and north of the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge. It is about north of Salisbury. The settlement ...

, announced late in 1911. The rules called for two-seater aircraft capable of various speed, climb, endurance and field operation conditions. O'Gorman was on the judging committee, so "factory" aircraft were not allowed to compete; nevertheless the B.E.2 put in regular appearances at the trials, where its performance was clearly superior to most of the competing aircraft. The B.E.1/B.E.2 design was mass-produced with minor changes as the B.E.2a and later developed into the B.E.2c by E. T. Busk. Busk's objective was to create an inherently stable aircraft for military observation purposes. Unfortunately the aircraft's stability resulted in a loss of manoeverability, and when German aircraft fitted with synchronised guns appeared in 1915 the losses of B.E.2c aircraft during the Fokker Scourge of 1915 led to a parliamentary inquiry. Although this did not find O'Gorman at fault it led to O'Gorman's departure from the Factory: his contract, which was to expire in October, was not renewed. O'Gorman, now holding the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Royal Flying Corps, remained as a consulting engineer to the Director-General of Military Aeronautics from 1916 to 1919. While at the Royal Aircraft Factory, he also sat on the government's "

Advisory Committee for Aeronautics The Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (ACA) was a UK agency founded on 30 April 1909, to undertake, promote, and institutionalize aeronautical research. In 1919 it was renamed the Aeronautical Research Committee, later becoming the Aeronautical ...

", located at the National Physical Laboratory, under the chairmanship of

Richard Glazebrook Sir Richard Tetley Glazebrook (18 September 1854 – 15 December 1935) was an English physicist. Education and early career Glazebrook was born in West Derby, Liverpool, Lancashire, the son of a surgeon. He was educated at Dulwich College unt ...

and presidency of John Strutt, Lord Rayleigh.

Drag - use of the terminology

In 1913 Mervyn O'Gorman said in an article on “Stability Devices” 'I adopt "drag," the word suggested by Mr.

Archibald Low Archibald Montgomery Low (17 October 1888 – 13 September 1956) developed the first powered drone aircraft. He was an English consulting engineer, research physicist and inventor, and author of more than 40 books. Low has been called the "fa ...

, in preference to the word "drift," to express the "resistance to forward motion through the air." The word drift is badly wanted in aeronautics in its own time-honoured significance, so that the actual travel of an aircraft may be compounded of the distance which is travelled axially, and its 'drift', i.e., the amount it drifts with the wind.”'

Subsequent career

He served as chairman of the

Royal Aeronautical Society The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a British multi-disciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community. Founded in 1866, it is the oldest aeronautical society in the world. Members, Fellows ...

in 1921–22 and also, among many other appointments, as chairman of the Accident Investigation and Civil Air Transport committee of the Air Ministry and chairman of the 1931 League of Nations subcommittee on the rating of aeronautical engines. From the 1920s onwards his main interest was traffic management and road safety. He was vice-chairman of the

Royal Automobile Club The Royal Automobile Club is a British private social and athletic club. It has two clubhouses: one in London at 89 Pall Mall, and the other in the countryside at Woodcote Park, near Epsom in Surrey. Both provide accommodation and a range o ...

between 1928 and 1931, and vice-president in 1952. In 1930, in response to the recently passed Road Traffic Act he was instrumental in the RAC's publication of a simple guide for all road users, containing essential do's and don'ts; this idea was taken up by the Government, resulting in the first version of the

, published in 1931. In December 1934 O'Gorman presented a case for funding urgent research into measuring and recording traffic flows, traffic density and accidents to the British Science Guild so that measures could be taken to eliminate road accidents. Another contributor suggested that accidents were not a result of excess speed as four fifths of the motor accidents occurring in the metropolitan area involved vehicles travelling at less than 15 miles per hour. O'Gorman was also a frequent contributor to the letters page of ''The Times'', mainly on motoring issues.

Private life, death, and character

In 1897, at San Remo in Italy, O'Gorman married Florence Catherine Rasch who was 17 years his senior. She was the younger daughter of the late Arthur Augustus Rasch who had been a senior figure in the insurance industry prior to the death of his first wife. From 1930 he was a member of the

Art Workers Guild The Art Workers' Guild is an organisation established in 1884 by a group of British painters, sculptors, architects, and designers associated with the ideas of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement. The guild promoted the 'unity of a ...

, and mad
etchings

linocut Linocut, also known as lino print, lino printing or linoleum art, is a printmaking technique, a variant of woodcut in which a sheet of linoleum (sometimes mounted on a wooden block) is used for a relief surface. A design is cut into the linoleum s ...

s and lacquer work; he also published a book of poetry, ''Verses Gloomy and Gay'' in 1933. Sir Geoffrey de Havilland describes him as a "man of great charm and humour, always interesting in discussion". O'Gorman died at his home, 21 Embankment Gardens,

, on 16 March 1958. His wife had died in 1931.

Autochromes

O'Gorman also had artistic interests and was known as a pioneer of colour photography using the autochrome process, and his photographs feature in exhibitions of early colour photography. A series of colour photographs he took in 1913 of his neighbour

Edwyn Bevan Edwyn Robert Bevan OBE, FBA (15 February 1870 in London – 18 October 1943 in London) was a versatile British philosopher and historian of the Hellenistic world. Life Edwyn Robert Bevan was the fourteenth of sixteen children of Robert Cooper L ...

's teenage daughter Christina dressed in red were included in the ''Drawn by Light'' exhibition in 2015 by the

National Science and Media Museum The National Science and Media Museum (formerly The National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, 1983–2006 and then the National Media Museum, 2006–2017), located in Bradford, West Yorkshire, is part of the national Science Museum G ...

and gained press and social media attention.

Honours

O'Gorman was appointed a

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregive ...

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. Born duri ...

's Birthday Honours list of 1913 whilst he was Superintendent of the Royal Aircraft Factory.

Publications

* Bringing Science into the Road Traffic Problem (1934) * Road Transport and the National Plan (1942) * London Traffic Troubles (1943) * The Roads of a Town IN The Empire Review (1943) * O'Gorman's Motor Pocket Book (1904) * Bringing Science into the Road Traffic Problem (1935) * Road Traffic Policy: a pleas for data (1949) * Operational Research on Road Traffic (1946) * The Evils of Taxing Distribution b
Road
* Small surprise (1950)

Notes

References

*Driver, H ''The Birth of Military Aviation''. Woodbridge: Royal Historical Society, 1997 *Hare, Paul R. ''The Royal Aircraft Factory''. London: Putnam, 1990 *Hare, Paul R. ''Aeroplanes of the Royal Aircraft Factory''. Marlborough: Crowood, 1999 *Lewis, Peter ''British Aircraft 1806–1914''. London: Putnam, 1962 *Penrose, Harald ''British Aviation: The Pioneer Years''. London: Putnam 1965 , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:OGorman, Mervyn 1871 births 1958 deaths People educated at Downside School Alumni of University College Dublin Companions of the Order of the Bath British aerospace engineers People from Brighton English people of Irish descent Photographers from Sussex English printmakers