Catalogue description Egerton Papers

This record is held by Royal Society

Details of AE
Reference: AE
Title: Egerton Papers
Description:

Correspondence, diaries and other papers some personal but largely relating to the Royal Society particularly wartime activities and post-war research needs in Britain. The diaries form an almost complete record of Egerton's career during the period 1943 - 1959 with some of the diaries dating from 1917 and the period 1929 - 30 but the bulk relating to the period 1938-1941.

Date: 1898 - 1970
Arrangement:

The collection has been arranged into 6 series:

 

AE/1 Royal Society business

 

AE/2 Diaries

 

AE/3 Personal correspondence and papers

 

AE/4 Visits abroad

 

AE/5 Awards and certificates

 

AE/6 Posthumous papers

Related material:

Archive material available in other repositories in the UK:

 

London University: Imperial College Library: 1908-59: papers (Ref: B/EGERTON) see Guide 1982: comprising research papers, notes and reports largely relating to explosives, manufacture of ammonia and hydrogen, [1916-1925], laboratory work at Oxford, 1919-1926, work for the Admiralty, 1940-[1950], papers relating to patents, 1928-1958; research notebooks, 1908-1937, including some correspondence and notably concerning vapour pressure of metals, amides of metals, residual gases in discharge tubes; lecture notes concerning combustion; papers on optical pyrometry, 1933-1938; correspondence and papers relating to research on the properties of steam, steam tables, international conferences on steam, 1930-1946. See also Chemisty Department papers (ref GB0098 KC) for correspondence relating to professorship at Imperial College.

 

Oxford University: Nuffield College Library: 1914-49: corresp with Lord Cherwell (Ref: Cherwell papers) NRA 16447 Lindemann

 

Cambridge University: Churchill Archives Centre: 1944-59: corresp with AV Hill (Ref: AVHL) NRA 28116 Hill

Held by: Royal Society, not available at The National Archives
Language: English
Creator:

Egerton, Sir, Alfred Charles Glyn, 1886-1959, Knight, scientist

Physical description: 34 boxes
Custodial history:

The collection was presented to the Royal Society by Lady Ruth Julia Egerton in 1969 (see AE/6/6)

Administrative / biographical background:

Born 11 October 1886. Fourth son of Colonel Sir Alfred Mordaunt Egerton, KCVO and the Hon Mary Georgina Ormsby-Gore, eldest daughter of the 2nd Baron Harlech. Known from childhood as Jack. Married in 1912 Hon Ruth Cripps. They adopted Francis, the posthumous younger son of his brother Louis who had been killed in the First World War. A keen watercolourist - an exhibition of his paintings was held at the Chenil Galleries in 1957. Died in France - Alpes-Maritimes - on 7 September 1959.

 

Education:

 

1900 Eton College. Taught by Thomas Cunningham Porter. Founded the Eton College Scientific Society.

 

1904 University College, London. Read Chemistry under Sir William Ramsey. Graduated with first class honours in 1908.

 

Career:

 

Research field: Thermodynamics

 

1909 Nancy University working under Professor Ganz

 

1909 - 1913 Royal Military Academy, Woolwich

 

1913 Berlin research with Nernst

 

1914 - 1918 Department of Explosives Supply of the Ministry of Munitions

 

1918 - 1935 worked at the Clarendon Laboratory, Oxford

 

1923 Made Reader in Thermodynamics, Oxford University

 

6 May 1926 Elected Fellow of The Royal Society

 

1931-33 member of the Council of The Royal Society

 

1936 - 1952 Chair of Chemical Technology at the Imperial College of Science in the Department of Chemical Technology and Applied Physical Chemistry

 

1938 - 1948 Physical Secretary of The Royal Society

 

1939-1945 Research on fuel, fire-raising and fire protection; Member of War Cabinet Scientific Advisory Committee; Chairman of the Fuel and Propulsion Committee of the Admiralty; Ex-officio member of committees connected with The Royal Society.

 

1942 sent to USA to reorganise the work of the British Central Scientific Office and to improve scientific liaison between London and Washington

 

1948-1953 Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council of the Ministry of Fuel and Power; Closely involved in the organization of the Royal Society Scientific Information Conference, London 1948; travelled abroad, special interest in India (first visit 1948 and again in 1954); appointed chairman of a committee to review the working and development of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Friendship with Pundit Nehru, the Indian Prime Minister

 

1949 - 1959 Director, Salters Institute of Industrial Chemistry

 

1953-1959 Emeritus Professor of Chemical Technology, University of London

 

1954 Chairman, Commonwealth Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, India

 

1956 adviser to the Tobacco Manufacturer' Standing Committee

 

1957 undertook a tour of Middle East - Beirut, Baghdad and Teheran

 

Knighted in 1943

 

Fellowships:

 

Elected fellow of University College, London and Imperial College and of the City and Guilds College Honorary degrees

 

Birmingham, Cairo, Nancy and Helsinki

 

Prizes:

 

Institution of Mechanical Engineers: George Stephenson Research Prize, Herbert Akroyd Stuart Prize, Thomas Hawkeskey Lecturer for 1940

 

Institution of Civil Engineers: The Telford Premium, 1942

 

Royal Society: Rumford Medal, 1946

 

Institution of Chemical Engineers: Hinchley Memorial Medal in 1954

 

Institute of Fuel: Melchett Medal, 1956

 

Combustion Institute: Egerton Medal, 1958

 

Honorary President of Combustion Institute; Honorary Editor of Fuel and also of Combustion and flame; British Coal Utilization Research Associations: Coal Science Lecturer, 1952

 

Publications:

 

The 1939 Callendar Steam Tables with G S Callendar (E Arnold & Co, London, 1939); editor of Fuel; lectures and papers largely relating to combustion and utilization of energy.

Link to NRA Record:

Have you found an error with this catalogue description?

Help with your research