Ernest Graham
Ernest Graham (1883-1949)
1950 Obituary [1]
"Lt.-Colonel ERNEST GRAHAM, O.B.E., was connected with railways throughout his professional career, and at his retirement he held the important position of mechanical engineer (railways) for the London Transport Executive, with control of some 1,700 employees.
He was born in 1883, and was educated at the Darlington Technical College and at the Royal College of Science, South Kensington. After serving his time as a premium apprentice at the Darlington Works of the North Eastern Railway, from 1900 to 1904, he acted as chief assistant in the engineering department of the Darlington College before joining the Great Northern Railway at Doncaster, where he was engaged in the drawing office. He was made assistant to the locomotive works manager in 1908, and in 1911 he was made outdoor assistant to the carriage and wagon superintendent.
Between 1912 and 1915 he was with the Great Western of Brazil Railway, first as chief assistant in and latterly as superintendent of the locomotive carriage and wagon department. During the remainder of the war of 1914-18 he served with the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Engineers, attaining to the rank of lieutenant-colonel and being mentioned in dispatches. In 1919 Colonel Graham was appointed mechanical adviser to, and subsequently chief of, the Allied Railway Mission to Poland and the Baltic Provinces. He began his connection with the London Underground railways in 1922, as superintendent, shops division, becoming assistant mechanical engineer in the following year. He was appointed mechanical engineer (maintenance) in 1935, and, five years later, was made mechanical engineer (railways). From 1942 until his retirement, in May 1949, he was responsible for the running and maintenance of all railway rolling stock.
He was awarded the O.B.E. in 1946 for his work in supervising the overhaul and maintenance of Underground trains during the war, as well as for "inspiring and controlling a high rate of production on war work". Colonel Graham was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1912, and was transferred to Membership five years later. He had been a vice-president of the Institution of Locomotive Engineers. His death occurred on 27th October 1949."