Thomas Furniss Lister (c1883-1954), chairman of Hackbridge and Hewittic Electric Co
Born the son of Arthur Lister, a labourer.
1954 Obituary [1]
WE regret to learn that Mr. T. F. Lister, chairman of Hackbridge and Hewittic Electric Company, died on July 13th, at the age of seventy-one.
After starting his engineering training at Halifax Technical School, he started work at a small engineering firm in Yorkshire in 1898.
Three years later he joined Ferranti, Ltd., and after a few months at Hollinwood was transferred to the contracts department of the company's London office. When this office was closed down in 1904, he joined The General Electric Company at Queen Victoria Street.
In 1905, Mr. Lister joined the British Westinghouse Company, which later became Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Company, Ltd. He remained there for twenty years, and during that time he gained valuable experience in the large machine division, switchgear, transformer and meter departments.
During the first world war he had charge of the deep-sea mining department and the magneto department.
After the war, when a main production department was started covering the whole of the Trafford Park Works, Mr. Lister was appointed first superintendent, a position he held until 1925, when he left Trafford Park to take up the position of manager of the Hackbridge Electric Construction Company at Walton-on-Thames.
In 1926 he was appointed manager also to the Hewittic Electric Company, Ltd., becoming director of both companies in 1931. He became managing director of these two companies and the New Switchgear Construction Company, Ltd., in 1944, and was appointed chairman and managing director in 1946.
In 1947-48 be was made chairman and managing director of the newly amalgamated group of companies under the title of Hackbridge and Hewittic Electric Company, Ltd. He retired from the position of managing director in March, 1954, but remained chairman of the company.
One of his many interests was the British Electrical and Allied Manufacturers' Association, and he was chairman of its council in 1951 and 1952. He was a governor of Brooklands Technical College, Weybridge.