Sir Denis Eric Rooke (2 April 1924 – 2 September 2008) was an English industrialist and engineer.

Early life

Denis Eric Rooke was born in

New Cross New Cross is an area in south east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwic ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, the younger son of Frederick George Rooke, a printer and travelling salesman, and his wife Ada Emily née Brown. He attended

Westminster City School Westminster City School is a state-funded secondary academy for boys, with a mixed sixth form, in Westminster, London. The school educates over 800 students, with links to more than 100 different cultures, in a central London location. The sch ...

and Addey and Stanhope School before studying

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

, taking a first-class degree in 1944. He then served in

REME The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is a corps of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses. The corps is described as the "British Army's Professional Engineers". History Prior to REME's for ...

in Britain and India until 1949, attaining the rank of major. He studied for a postgraduate diploma in

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

at University College which he was awarded in 1949. He married Brenda Evans (born 1922) on 22 January 1949 in Deptford, London.She was an investigator providing research services, and they had a daughter, Diana.

Career

From 1949, he worked in the gas industry, first on

coal tar Coal tar is a thick dark liquid which is a by-product of the production of coke and coal gas from coal. It is a type of creosote. It has both medical and industrial uses. Medicinally it is a topical medication applied to skin to treat psorias ...

by-products at the South Metropolitan Gas works where he was appointed deputy manager of the tar works in 1954. He was seconded to North Thames Gas in 1957 to work on reforming processes for producing town gas from natural gas and oil. He also worked on

liquefied natural gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the vol ...

(LNG), pioneering the sea transport of LNG. He was aboard the ship, the '' Methane Pioneer'', making the first delivery to

Canvey Island Canvey Island is a town, civil parish and reclaimed island in the Thames estuary, near Southend-on-Sea, in the Castle Point district, in the county of Essex, England. It has an area of and a population of 38,170.Office for National Statistics. ( ...

of LNG to the UK in 1959. Rooke joined the board of the

Gas Council The Gas Council was a UK government body that provided strategic oversight of the gas industry in England, Wales and Scotland between 1949 and 1972. The British gas industry was nationalised under the provisions of the Gas Act 1948 (11 & 12 Geo. ...

in 1966 as the member for production and supplies, with responsibility for developing gas fields. His greatest achievement was to help to bring

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

from the North Sea to domestic, commercial and industrial premises across Britain. This entailed the conversion of all gas appliance and the construction of a network of high pressure pipelines. He claimed this was "perhaps the biggest peacetime operation in the nation's history". He became deputy chairman of the Gas Council in 1972 and, along with the chairman, Sir Henry Jones, and Sir Arthur Hetherington, he was responsible for combining the Gas Council and 12 separate

gas board The area gas boards were created under the provisions of the Gas Act 1948 enacted by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government. The Act nationalised the British gas industry and also created the Gas Council. History From the early 19th centu ...

s into the British Gas Corporation in 1973. Rooke was appointed chairman of the British Gas Corporation in 1976. He was involved in several controversies. The Gas Council had formed a consortium to search for, and produce, offshore gas. At the same time, it was responsible for buying gas produced by other companies. The companies insisted on a market value approach to prices whereas the Gas Council purchased, more cheaply, gas priced on cost. The incoming Conservative government in 1979 wished to reform the nationalised industries. The government insisted that British Gas divest itself of oil exploration and production interests. This was achieved through the establishment of

Enterprise Oil Enterprise Oil was a major UK independent exploration and production company based in Europe, with core areas of activity in the United Kingdom and Ireland, mainland Europe, Brazil and the Gulf of Mexico. The Company was once a constituent of the ...

. In 1986, British Gas was floated on the stock market; Rooke had insisted that British Gas should be privatised as an integrated entity. However, it was soon divided into three parts: Centrica,

BG Group BG Group plc was a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Reading, United Kingdom. On 8 April 2015, Royal Dutch Shell announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire BG Group for $70 billion, subject to regulatory and ...

and Lattice. Rooke remained chairman until he retired in 1989.

Honours and appointments

* Appointed a

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 ...

in 1970, and knighted in 1977. * Appointed to the Order of Merit in 1997. * Fellow of University College London 1972. * Chancellor of Loughborough University from 1989 to 2003 and a building was named after him. * Awarded in 1987 an honorary degree (Doctor of Laws) from the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

. * Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

1978. Awarded Rumford Medal 1986. * Chairman of the

Council for National Academic Awards The Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA) was the national degree-awarding authority in the United Kingdom from 1965 until its dissolution on 20 April 1993. Background The establishment followed the recommendation of the UK government Com ...

1978 to 1983. * President Royal Academy of Engineering 1986 to 1991. Awarded

Prince Philip Medal The Prince Philip Medal is named after Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who was the Senior Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE). In 1989 Prince Philip agreed to the commissioning of solid gold medals to be "awarded periodically to ...

1992. * Trustee of the

Science Museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in ...

1983 to 1995, Chairman 1995.

Death

Denis Rooke died of cancer on 2 September 2008. Lady Rooke died in 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rooke, Denis 1924 births 2008 deaths British chief executives in the energy industry People from New Cross People educated at Addey and Stanhope School Alumni of University College London Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers officers British Army personnel of World War II Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Presidents of the Royal Academy of Engineering Members of the Order of Merit Knights Bachelor Businesspeople awarded knighthoods Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Chancellors of Loughborough University People associated with the Science Museum, London Presidents of the British Science Association 20th-century English businesspeople