Frank Perkins (engineer)

Francis Arthur Perkins (20 February 1889 – 15 October 1967) was a British engineer, businessman, creator of the Perkins Diesel Engine, and founder of Perkins Engines.

Background and early life

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Perkins was born in Peterborough, the son of John Edward Sharman Perkins, a manufacturer of agricultural machinery, and his wife Margaret Charlotte Long. His brother Christopher Perkins became a noted artist, and both boys were educated at Gresham's School, Holt, Norfolk. Frank attended Rugby School (1902–1904), Gresham's (1904–1907), and Emmanuel College, Cambridge, (1907–1910) gaining a pass degree in mechanical engineering in 1910.

War service

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At the beginning of the First World War, Perkins volunteered for the army and, in October 1914, was commissioned in the Royal Engineers.[1] He served in its 34th divisional company in the Dardanelles, Palestine, and Egypt. He was demobilised in 1918 with the rank of major.

Career

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He was a third generation engineer, following both his grandfather and father, who both worked for Barford & Perkins, a family firm that manufactured road construction rollers/compactors, agricultural rollers, and other agricultural machinery. However, before joining the family firm at its Queen Street ironworks in Peterborough, he worked for Lawes Chemicals Ltd.

While later working at Aveling & Porter in Rochester, Kent, Perkins started working on a high-speed, light-weight, diesel engine with Charles Chapman. Before they could complete the project, Aveling & Porter went bankrupt. Convinced that the scheme would be profitable in serving the agricultural tractor market, the two formed their own company, F. Perkins Limited, on 7 June 1932, initially with four employees and based in a rented workshop.[2] Chapman was the technical director and Perkins the chairman.

Perkins would go on building new engines and building the company until 1959, when at the age of seventy he sold a majority stake to his largest customer, Massey Ferguson. He was president of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (1956–57) and Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire (1956–57).[3] He died at his home, Alwalton Hall, near Peterborough, in 1967.[2] There is a plaque to his memory in Alwalton parish church where Henry Royce (1863–1933), co-founder of Rolls-Royce, is also commemorated. A section of the A1139 through Peterborough is named Frank Perkins Parkway.

Family

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In 1915, while on leave from the Royal Engineers, Perkins married Susan Gwynneth Gee, the daughter of Hugh Roberts Williams. They had one son and three daughters.

Sources and further reading

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  1. ^ "No. 28940". The London Gazette. 16 October 1914. p. 8255.
  2. ^ a b "Frank Perkins dies". Autocar. 127. Vol. (nbr 3741). 26 October 1967. p. 76.
  3. ^ "No. 40738". The London Gazette. 16 March 1956. p. 1731.

See also

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References

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