Sir William Valentine Wood

KBE KBE may refer to: * Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters * Knowledge-based engineering Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...

, worked for much of his life on 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 u ...

(LMS), rising to become its President. He was known for his ability with numbers.

Biography

William Wood; Willie Wood to his railway colleagues and Val to his family, attended

Methodist College, Belfast God with us , established = 1865 , type = Voluntary grammar , religion = Interdenominational , principal = Jenny Lendrum , chair_label = Chairwoman , chair = Revd. Dr Janet Unsworth , founder ...

before joining the

Northern Counties Committee The Northern Counties Committee (NCC) was a railway that served the north-east of Ireland. It was built to Irish gauge () but later acquired a number of narrow gauge lines. It had its origins in the Belfast and Ballymena Railway that opened to ...

(NCC) as an accountant. Here he expanded his interest to all matters relating to the railway. During World War I he worked for the government, and when the

Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government age ...

was created in 1919 he became its first director of finance. He later returned to railway work on the LMS, successor to the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...

which had owned the NCC, where he became vice president (finance and services). When

Josiah Stamp Josiah Charles Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp, (21 June 1880 – 16 April 1941) was an English industrialist, economist, civil servant, statistician, writer, and banker. He was a director of the Bank of England and chairman of the London, Midland and Scot ...

was killed in 1941, Wood was asked to take over as President, a post which he held until the nationalisation of the Railways in 1948. He then worked for five years with the British Transport Commission (BTC) whose Chairman, Sir Cyril Hurcombe, he had come to know during his time in the Ministry of Transport.

References

1959 deaths 1883 births London, Midland and Scottish Railway people People educated at Methodist College Belfast Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire {{Rail-bio-stub