Sir Ernest John Hutchings Lemon (9 December 1884 – 15 December 1954) was an English railway engineer, and was chief mechanical engineer of 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 ...

and later one of its three Vice-Presidents. During the run-up to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, Lemon was made Director-General of Aircraft Production and made crucial improvements to aircraft production.

Biography

Lemon was born in the small village of Okeford Fitzpaine, in the registration district of Sturminster Newton, North

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

. His father was a carpenter, and his mother laundress for the Rectory next door, where his first work experience was as a ‘back door boy’. The Rector recognised his potential, and when the Rector's daughter moved to Scotland she took Lemon with her, and he attended

Heriot-Watt College Heriot-Watt University ( gd, Oilthigh Heriot-Watt) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and subsequently granted univ ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. He served an apprenticeship with the

North British Locomotive Company The North British Locomotive Company (NBL, NB Loco or North British) was created in 1903 through the merger of three Glasgow locomotive manufacturing companies; Sharp, Stewart and Company (Atlas Works), Neilson, Reid and Company (Hyde Park Wo ...

and then worked for the

Highland Railway The Highland Railway (HR) was one of the smaller British railways before the Railways Act 1921, operating north of Perth railway station in Scotland and serving the farthest north of Britain. Based in Inverness, the company was formed by merger ...

and for Hurst Nelson. In 1911, Lemon became Chief Wagon Inspector of 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 ama ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. In 1917, he was made Carriage Works Manager at

Derby Works The Derby Works comprised a number of British manufacturing facilities designing and building locomotives and rolling stock in Derby, England. The first of these was a group of three maintenance sheds opened around 1840 behind Derby station. Th ...

. In 1923, he was appointed Divisional Carriage and Wagon Superintendent at Derby. There he developed production line methods for the construction of

wagon A wagon or waggon is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draught animals or on occasion by humans, used for transporting goods, commodities, agricultural materials, supplies and sometimes people. Wagons are immediately distinguished from ...

s and

carriage A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping ...

s. Despite having little experience in locomotive engineering, in 1931 Lemon was appointed to the post of

chief mechanical engineer Chief mechanical engineer and locomotive superintendent are titles applied by British, Australian, and New Zealand railway companies to the person ultimately responsible to the board of the company for the building and maintaining of the locomotive ...

(CME) replacing the retiring Henry Fowler. After less than a year as CME however, Lemon was again promoted to Vice-President, Railway Traffic, Operating and Commercial, replacing J.H. Follows who retired due to ill health. Under his Vice-Presidency, the LMS undertook modernisation of their

motive power depot The motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is the place where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained when not being used. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine she ...

William Stanier Sir William Arthur Stanier, (27 May 1876 – 27 September 1965) was a British railway engineer, and was chief mechanical engineer of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway. Biography Sir William Stanier was born in Swindon, where h ...

had been head-hunted from the

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

to replace Lemon as CME and revolutionised the LMS's locomotive policy. Lemon was a member of the

Engineer and Railway Staff Corps The Engineer and Logistic Staff Corps is a part of the Royal Engineers in the British Army Reserve. It is intended to provide advisers on engineering and logistics to the British Army at a senior level. Following its work creating the NHS Nighti ...

— a Territorial Army unit of 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 head ...

; he joined as a

Major Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicato ...

in November 1929, and was promoted to

Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

in April 1932. He resigned his commission in August 1943. During World War II, Lemon was made Director-General of Aircraft Production. He introduced "assembly-line methods" and standardisation which enabled production to be sped up to such an extent that, at the end of the Battle of Britain, the RAF had more operational aircraft than at the start of that Battle, while Germany had fewer. Lemon received a knighthood in the 1941 New Year's Honours list. He retired from the railway in 1943 and died in

Epsom Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...

in 1954.

References

External links

* http://www.steamindex.com/people/fowler.htm#lemon * http://www.ernestlemon.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Lemon, Ernest 1884 births 1954 deaths Alumni of Heriot-Watt University English railway mechanical engineers Locomotive builders and designers London, Midland and Scottish Railway people Engineer and Railway Staff Corps officers Officers of the Order of the British Empire Knights Bachelor

Biography

References

Further reading

External links