First Baron Ashfield of Southwell, 8/8/1874 - 4/11/1948
Main details
| Reference number | 2001/28655 |
|---|---|
| Name | First Baron Ashfield of Southwell |
| AKA | Lord Ashfield, Albert Henry Knattriess, Albert Henry Stanley, Sir Albert Henry Stanley |
| Collection | |
| Object type |
|
| Completeness | 100% |
-
Biography
Attribute Value Biography Lord Ashfield was born Albert Henry Knattriess in a small terraced house in Madeley Street, Rosehill, Derby, on 8 August 1874. His father, Henry Knattriess, was a coach painter. The family emigrated to the United States during Ashfield's childhood, and settled in Detroit when he was 11 years old. Once they had been in Detroit for a few years, they changed the family name to Stanley. Ashfield was educated in the States, attending colleges and technical schools.
Ashfield's parents wanted him to become a minister of religion, but Ashfield wanted, at this stage, to be an engineer. At the age of 14, he watched the Detroit horse trams and decided that that was the company he wanted to work for. He obtained a letter of introduction from the Rev John Munday, a family friend, and began working as an odd job man and messenger in the stables of the Detroit Citizens' Street Railway Company. His salary was five dollars a week. He attended courses at technical schools, paid for from his own savings, and at the age of 18 was employed by the company to prepare schedules. The division's Superintendent refused to work to the schedule and said that the men would not work to it either. When the Superintendent resigned in protest, Ashfield applied for the job even before it was vacant, and got it.
His talents ensured that he rose through the grades and attained the position of General Superintendent by the time he was 28 (1902-1903). He had, however, spent at least part of 1898 as an Ordinary Seaman in the US Navy, having enlisted for the Spanish-American War.
He joined the Street Railway Department of the Public Service Corporation of New Jersey as Assistant General Manager in 1903, becoming General Manager of the entire Corporation in January 1907. On the 20 February 1907, however, he was made General Manager of the Underground Group in London. He was elected to the Board the following year and became Managing Director in 1910 after the departure of Sir George Gibb.
A probable early action of Ashfield's, which was aimed at unification, was that he is thought to have inspired the use of a readily recognisable symbol for all the Underground railways to use. This was the word "UNDERGROUND" written with a large 'U' and large 'D' as part of an illuminated sign. This symbol was officially adopted on 29 February 1908.
Ashfield's style of management at this time was pushy and tough. His presence certainly livened up the Underground Group. He himself later likened his arrival at the Group's offices to that of an electric eel being let loose in a tank with somnolent fish. When Stanley first arrived, the Underground Group was facing bankruptcy. To encourage his senior managers to make sure the concern was successful, Ashfield made them all write out their resignations and date them for six months later, and then he signed them, announcing that the resignations would take effect if performance did not improve. He persuaded banks to lend the Group money and he also effectively eliminated competition over the next few years by bringing most of the competing concerns into the combine. This was because he had realised that the most effective way to tackle London's passenger transport provision was to make it all part of the same organisation.
In this vein, Ashfield was involved in the negotiations which resulted in the Underground Group merging with the London General Omnibus Company (LGOC) in 1912 and he became a member of the board for the merged concern at the start of April that year.
Ashfield could see that motor bus services could be developed by serving London's emerging outer suburbs. Over the next few years, these bus routes were indeed developed, often linking in with railway stations, and the bus traffic of the capital hugely increased. The new routes had, however, actually been devised by Frank Pick, who at that time was the Underground Group's Commercial Manager.
Ashfield was knighted in 1914 for services to London's passenger transport. During World War One (WW1) he was engaged on war work. He was appointed Director General of Mechanical Transport at the War Office in 1916 and on 12 December that year, he resigned from the Underground Group in order to enter the House of Commons as MP for Ashton-under-Lyne and become President of the Board of Trade (which is now the Department of Trade and Industry) in Lloyd George's administration. While there, he suggested that the Underground Group's Commercial Manager Frank Pick be appointed as head of the household fuel and lighting branch of the Board of Trade, which Pick duly was. Ashfield left the government in May 1919, returning to the Underground Group as Managing Director. He became Chairman (while remaining Managing Director) on 1 February 1921.
His style of management from this point on would appear to have been altered by his wartime experiences in government. He now appeared less ruthless and more diplomatic in approach.
In the years that followed, Ashfield was in communication with the London County Council (LCC), who ran the tramways for London's central area, in an attempt to form some co-operative agreements with them, but negotiations ultimately broke down. Ashfield remained committed to a non-competitive arrangement for London's passenger transport, believing this to be the most efficient arrangement for transport provision and the most effective way to protect transport provision for the less popular routes. This arrangement also kept down the cost of obtaining capital.
He was created Baron Ashfield of Southwell (pronounced 'southall') in the 1920 New Year's Honours List. The title reflected the fact that the Knattriess family actually had its routes in Nottinghamshire, not Derbyshire, and that Ashfield's father had been born in Sutton-in-Ashfield and his grandfather in Southwell.
In 1931-32 he was a member of the Royal Commission on Railways and Transportation in Canada.Employment Odd Job Man and Messenger, Stables, Detroit Citizens' Street Railway Company, 1888 or 1889 - 1892 or 1893Clerical post, Schedules Department, Detroit Citizens' Street Railway Company, 1892 or 1893 -Superintendent of a division, Detroit Citizens' Street Railway Company,Ordinary Seaman, US Navy, 1898Detroit Citizens' Street Railway Company, 1898 -General Superintendent, Detroit Citzens' Street Railway Company, 1902 or 1903 - 1903Assistant General Manager, Street Railway Department, Public Service Corporation of New Jersey, 1903 - January 1907General Manager, Public Service Corporation of New Jersey, January 1907 - 19 February 1907General Manager, Underground Group, 20 February 1907 - 1908Director, Underground Group, 1908 - 31 March 1910Managing Director, Underground Group, 1 April 1910 - December 1916President of the Board of Trade, MP for Aston-under-Lyne, December 1916 - May 1919Managing Director, Underground Group, May 1919 - 31 January 1921Chairman and Managing Director, 1 February 1921 - 30 June 1933Chairman, London Passenger Transport Board, 1 July 1933 - 30 September 1947Founder member, British Transport Commission, 1 January 1948 - 4 November 1948Role Staff,