Sir Harry Samuel Bickerton Brindley

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 ...

(1867–1920) was a British

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

, armaments businessman and manufacturer.

Life

Brindley was born in September 1867 in Handsworth, near

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. His father, G. S. Brindley, was an engineer and mechanics instructor at the Imperial College of Engineering in Japan, where the younger was subsequently raised and educated. He graduated from Tokyo University with an engineering degree in 1883.

Career

While living in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, he received a

United States patent Under United States law, a patent is a right granted to the inventor of a (1) process, machine, article of manufacture, or composition of matter, (2) that is new, useful, and non-obvious. A patent is the right to exclude others, for a limited ...

for 1902 hydraulic or other fluid controlling valve.U.S. Patent Number 4650159 In 1915, Brindley assumed management of the Ponders End Shell Works, devoted to

WWI World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

production. After the war, Winston Churchill wrote that Brindley's work at Ponders end "proved of the highest value to the Ministry of Munitions, and he has succeeded in a remarkable degree in enlisting the enthusiasm of the workers in the manufacture of shells." Following the war, Brindley sought to share the methods of industrial efficiency that he had developed at Ponder's end. In 1919 he was a co-initiator of the British Institute of Industrial Administration.

Freemasonry

After the war, Ponders End employees petitioned the Freemasons for a lodge to be named after Brindley. The request was successful, after it was supported by

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

. Brindley was chosen to be the first Master.Brother Winston: Churchill as a Freemason.
''MQ Magazine'' ISSUE 3, October 2002.

Death and knighthood

Brindley died on 28 March 1920. Three days after his death, Brindley was posthumously gazetted as a

Knight of the British Empire 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 ...

References

External links

Western Books on Asia: Japan Author Index.
1867 births 1920 deaths {{UK-engineer-stub