George Herbert Fletcher
George Herbert Fletcher (1886-1957)
1958 Obituary.[1]
George Herbert Fletcher, O.B.E., who died on the 20th December 1957, at his home at Appleby, Westmorland, was born at Preston on the 9th August 1886. He was educated at Moor Park Academy, Preston, and received his technical education part-time at the Victoria Technical College while serving an apprenticeship at Preston with Dick, Kerr and Co., where later he was in charge of the testing of a.c. machines.
He moved to Manchester in 1914 to join the British Westinghouse Electrical and Manufacturing Co. as a design engineer on a.c. machines, and for a period was responsible for induction-motor design.
In 1919 he took charge of traction-motor design. The manufacture of traction motors was transferred to Sheffield in 1920, and the design staff followed in 1922, when Mr. Fletcher became Chief Engineer of the newly formed Traction Motor Department. In 1930 he was appointed Chief Engineer and Manager of the Sheffield Works of Metropolitan-Vickers, and from then he became increasingly concerned with management problems, although still retaining his keen interest in technical matters. In 1939, with his characteristic energy, he organized the rapid change-over from traction products to work for the Services. In 1948 he was appointed a Director of the Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Export Co. and in 1949 General Manager of the Sheffield Works, a post he held until his retirement in 1951, after which he acted as a consultant for three years. From 1954 he became a consultant on traction matters to the General Electric Co., Witton. At the time of his death he was engaged in delivering the 1957-58 Faraday Lecture, 'The Electrification of the British Railways'.
During the course of his career he was responsible for a number of papers and lectures before various bodies. For many years he took a prominent part in the work of the B.S.I, on traction motors and in the related work of the I.E.C. As a result of his I.E.C. work and his responsibility for the development of the motors for many important electrification schemes, he acquired an international reputation as an expert on traction motors.
During his period on the management side he played a considerable part in local industrial affairs and was a member of many committees, often serving as chairman. He had a particularly strong interest in educational matters and served on several committees. He was for a period a member of the Board of the Faculty of Engineering of Sheffield University. For his services to industry he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1952.
Mr. Fletcher was chiefly noted for his inventiveness, energy and enthusiasm, which continued during his retirement right up to the time of his death. He is survived by his widow and a son.
Mr. Fletcher joined The Institution as an Associate Member in 1919 and was elected a Member in 1930. He was awarded an Institution Premium in 1939 for a joint paper with Prof. A. Tustin entitled 'The Metadyne, and its Applications to Electric Traction'. He served on the Sheffield Sub-Centre Committee from 1926 to 1944, being Chairman in 1943-44, and on the North Midland Centre Committee in 1943-44. He was a Life Member of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and a Member of The Institution of Mechanical Engineers.