Hinton of Bankside, Christopher Hinton, Baron, 1901-1983.
Baron Christopher Hinton papers.
The collection represents Hinton's selection and evaluation of the material in his possession. He regularly pruned his files of what he considered less important papers, while grouping together documents on a particular topic or of special interest and often adding his own title and comments. Although documentation of his work for industry and official bodies must be sought in the records of Imperial Chemical Industries, the Ministry for Supply, United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and Central Electricity Generating Board, the collection contains personal material for all stages of his career. Of special interest in this regard are his unpublished autobiography (copyright IMECHE) and other notes and reminiscences, and his personal and office diaries from 1941 to 1983. Many of the other activities of special concern to Hinton are also well documented, such as his work for the engineering profession in papers relating to the Council of Engineering Institutions, the Fellowship of Engineering, and the Finniston Committee of Enquiry. Other contributions to the public service as Special Adviser to the World Bank and Chairman of the International Executive of the World Energy Conference are also represented. The correspondence section is not large, but includes many reminiscences and overviews of various aspects of Hinton's career.
Hinton was one of the most distinguished engineers of his day. Beginning as a sixteen-year-old apprentice with the Great Western Railway at Swindon, he gained first class honors at Cambridge, then worked for Brunner Mond (later ICI) being seconded to the Ministry of Supply during the Second World War. In 1946 he was appointed Deputy Controller of Production, Atomic Energy, and in 1954 Member for Engineering and Production when the Atomic Energy Authority was formed. His organization was responsible for designing and building the factory at Springfields for extracting uranium, for building Windscale with its production piles and complex chemical plants, the diffusion plants at Capenhurst, the first industrial nuclear plant at Calder Hall and the fast breeder reactor at Dounreay. In 1957 Hinton became the first chairman of the newly-created Central Electricity Generating Board. Following the conferment of a Life Peerage in 1965 he was an active member of the House of Lords, and a highly successful first Chancellor of the University of Bath. A member of many engineering organizations and institutions, he was President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and of the Council of Engineering Institutions, and from 1976 to 1981 the first President of the Fellowship of Engineering which he had done so much to establish. He died in 1983.
Great Britain. Ministry of Supply.
United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
Engineering -- Societies, etc. -- England.
Energy policy -- Congresses and conventions.
Nuclear energy -- Administration -- England.
Journals (accounts). aat ftamc
Reminiscences. aat
Engineers -- Biography.
Scientists -- Diaries -- England.
Central Electricity Generating Board (England).
Council of Engineering Institutions (England).
Fellowship of Engineering (England).
Finniston Committee of Enquiry (England).
Imperial Chemical Industries, ltd.
World Bank.
International Executive of the World Energy Conference.
AIP-ICOS
Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMECHE). 1 Birdcage Walk, London SWIH 9JJ, England