Sir Noel Ashbridge (10 December 1889 – 4 June 1975) was an English engineer who played a key role in the early technical development of the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Early life and education

Ashbridge was born in 1889 in

Wanstead Wanstead () is a town in East London, England, in the London Borough of Redbridge. It borders South Woodford to the north, Redbridge, London, Redbridge to the east and Forest Gate to the south, with Leytonstone and Walthamstow to the west. It is ...

, Essex, the youngest son of Sylvia (née Moore) and John Ashbridge, a solicitor. He was educated at Forest School in East London, before studying for a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

, graduating in 1911.

Career

After graduating, Ashbridge undertook further training with shipbuilders

Yarrow & Company Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited (YSL), often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde. It is now part of BAE Systems Surface Ships, owned by BAE Systems, which has also op ...

, engineering firm

British Thomson-Houston British Thomson-Houston (BTH) was a British engineering and heavy industrial company, based at Rugby, Warwickshire, England, and founded as a subsidiary of the General Electric Company (GE) of Schenectady, New York, United States. They were kno ...

and the Lancashire Dynamo and Motor Company. In 1914, he joined the

Royal Fusiliers The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in continuous existence for 283 years. It was known as the 7th Regiment of Foot until the Childers Reforms of 1881. The regiment served in many wars ...

, moving to 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 ...

two years later. After the way, Ashbridge was employed by the Marconi Company. His involvement in developing the

2MT 2MT was the first British radio station to make regular entertainment broadcasts, and the "world's first regular wireless broadcast" for entertainment. Transmissions began on 14 February 1922 from an ex-Army hut next to the Marconi laboratories ...

transmitter led to him acquiring a job as assistant chief engineer at the BBC from January 1926, under his Marconi colleague Peter Eckersley. After three years, he took over from Eckersley as chief engineer. In the following years, he played a key role in the development of the engineering side of the BBC, and also offered technical advice to other European countries. For his work, the Danish monarch made him a Knight of the

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known a ...

in 1934, and he was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in the United Kingdom in 1935. He was later part of a wartime committee set up to plan for post-war resumption of television broadcasting. In 1943, he became deputy director-general of the BBC. In 1948, due to restructuring within the Corporation, he became director of technical services. In 1950, he was involved in the foundation of the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...

. He retired from the BBC two years later. After retiring, Ashbridge served on the board of Marconi for seven years.

Personal life

Ashbridge married Olive Maud Strickland on 17 July 1926. They had two daughters, Wendy and Helen. Maud died in 1948. His interests outside of engineering included cricket and sailing. He died at a nursing home in Speldhurst, Kent in June 1975, aged 85. He was survived by his two daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashbridge, Noel 1889 births 1975 deaths People educated at Forest School, Walthamstow Alumni of King's College London BBC people Knights of the Order of the Dannebrog Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire People from Wanstead 20th-century British engineers People from Speldhurst