Notes and References References to material in the Public Record Office are shown as 'PRO', with the class and piece number following. References to British Transport Commission papers are shown as 'BTC', with the file number following. These files are all from the former Chief Secretary's registry. The BTC's Annual Reports are indicated by 'AR', with the year and page number following. Minutes of the Executives are given their number, after the initials of the Executive concerned. Biographical notes are drawn chiefly from Who's Who and Who Was Who; from obituary notices in The Times; from the Dictionary ofNational Biography; from the transport technical journals, and from The Economist. 2 Drafting the Bill 1. Sir Norman Chester, The Nationalisation of British Industry, 1945-51 (London, 1975). 2. The Labour Party, Let Us Face the Future (London, 1945) p. 7. 3. Alfred Barnes (1887-1974) PC, MP. 'A designer by trade' (Who's Who). Educated Northampton Institute and LCC School of Arts and Crafts. MP (Labour/Co-op) for S.E. Ham, 1922-31 and 1935-55. A Lord Commissioner of the Treasury, 1929-30. Minister of War Transport and then Minister of Transport, 1945-51. Chairman of the Co-operative Party, 1924-45. Proprietor of the Eastcliffe Hotel, Walton-on-the-Naze. 'Made an important contribution to the development of the Co-operative movement as a political force ... shrewd business ability and much administrative skill ... He saw no point in needless rigidity. He was criticised by some Labour back-benchers for the measure of freedom of choice he left in the carriage of goods by road but that did not bother him ... His views did not commend themselves to some Labour intellectuals' (Times obituary). 4. Edward Hugh John Neale Dalton (1887-1962) (Lord Dalton, created 1960) PC, DSc, LLD, DCL, MP (Labour) for Camberwell, 1924-29; for Bishop Auckland, 1929-31 and 1935-59. Research student, London School of Economics, 1911-13. Barrister-at-law, 1912. War service 1914- 19. Lecturer, LSE, 1919. Sir Ernest Cassel Reader in Commerce, 1920-25. Reader in Economics, 1925-36. (Hon. Fellow, LSE.) Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Foreign Office, 1929-31. Minister of Economic War­ fare, 1940-42. President of the Board of Trade, 1942-45. Chancellor of the Exchequer, 1945-51. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1950-51. Minister of Local Government and Planning, 1951. Chairman, National Executive of the Labour Party, 1936-37. Author of numerous books on politics, economics, and travel. 5. Unpublished diary of Hugh Dalton, in British Library of Political and Economic Science, entry dated 20 December 1946. 6. (Sir) Cyril William Hurcomb (1883-1975), first Baron Hurcomb of Campden Hill (created 1950), GCB, KBE, entered the Post Office after 168 Notes and References to pp. 4-8 169 graduating at StJohn's College, Oxford (of which in later life he became an honorary Fellow). He became Private Secretary to the Postmaster­ General in 1911 and in 1915 was Director of Commercial Services in the wartime Ministry of Shipping. He became Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport in 1927 but was appointed Chairman of the Electricity Commissioners in 1938. In 1939 he was made Director-General of the Ministry of Shipping and held the same rank after the Ministries of Shipping and Transport were amalgamated in 1941 to form the Ministry of War Transport. After the War he was Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport once more, until becoming Chairman of the BTC. His deep interest in ornithology and nature conservation led to his becoming President of the Nature Conservancy in 1961-62 and of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in 1962--66. He was also a trustee of the British Museum, 196(}-63. His peerage was conferred in 1950. 7. From'Autobiographical Notes' dictated by Lord Hurcomb after his retirement, in the possession of his grand-daughter, Mrs Teona Champ­ kins. 8. C. I. Savage, History of the Second World War: Inland Transport, HMSO (London, 1956) p. 121. 9. (Sir) John Charles Walsham Reith, first Baron Reith of Stonehaven (created 1940). (1889-1971), PC, GCVO, GBE, CB, TD. War service 1914--18, General Manager, William Beardmore & Co Ltd, 1920. General Manager, British Broadcasting Company 1922; Managing Director, 1923. Director-General, British Broadcasting Corporation, 1927-38. Chair­ man, Imperial Airways 1938-39, British Overseas Airways Corporation, 1939--40. Minister of Information, 1940; Minister of Transport, 1940. Minister of Works and Planning, 1940--42. Four honorary doctorates. 10. (Sir) Alfred T. V. Robinson (1879-1945), KBE, CB, CBE. Entered civil service and became Treasury Officer of Accounts, 1913; Controller of Cost Accounts, War Office, 1921; Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Trans­ port, 1939-40. Knighted, 1940. Regional Transport Commissioner, Bris­ tol, 1941--45. 11. (Sir) William Henry Coates (1882-1963). Entered Civil Service in 1900 in War Office; 1904, entered Inland Revenue, becoming Director of Statistics and Intelligence in that Department in 1914. In 1925, left the Civil Service to become Secretary of Nobel Industries Ltd, one of the constituents of Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd, of which he became Deputy Chairman in 1945. He was temporarily released in 1941 to be Financial Adviser to the British High Commissioner in Canada. He was knighted in 1947. 'It was perhaps in the organisational and financial set-up of ICI that Billie Coates made his greatest contribution' (obituary in /C/ Magazine, April/ May 1963). 12. PRO LP (45) 233. 13. Hurcomb, 'Autobiographical Notes'. 14. (Sir) Bernard Gilbert (1891-1957) GCB, KBE, joined the Treasury, 1914. After war service, he rose to be Joint Second Secretary, Treasury, 1944-- 56. 15. John Jewkes, Ordeal by Planning (London, 1948) p. 141. 170 Notes and References to pp. 8-25 16. Savage, History of the Second World War: Inland Transport, p. 639. 17. PRO CAB 124(606. 18. J. E. Meade, unpublished diaries, in the British Library of Political and Economic Science. 19. PRO MT 33/498. 20. Ibid. 21. PRO MT 47/202. 22. PRO MT 74/130. 23. PRO MT 74/141. 24. PRO CAB 134/687. 25. PRO MT 74/141. 26. S. S. Wilson, 'Personal Notes'. 27. Ibid. 28. Sir Harold Simcox Kent, In on the Act (London, 1979) p. 176. 29. Ibid. 30. PRO CAB 134/687. 31. Wilson, 'Personal Notes'. 32. Ibid. 33. PRO MT 74(76. 34. PRO MT 74/22. 35. PRO CAB 134/687. 36. P. J. R. Tapp was a professional haulier, attached to the Ministry through his Chairmanship of the wartime Meat Transport Pool, which had formed a prototype for the MWT Road Haulage Organisation. (Sir) Cyril Augustine Birtchnell (1887-1967) joined H.M. Customs in 1906 and transferred to the Estate Duty Office. He was called to the Bar in 1919 and joined the Ministry of Transport in 1920. He was Principal Assistant Secretary (Road Transport) in 1940; became an Under-Secretary in 1947 and Deputy Secretary in the same year, following Sir R. H. Hill's retirement. He was a Member of the League of Nations Permanent Commission on Road Traffic in 1927, and British member of the Executive Board of European Inland Transport Organisations, 1945-46. 37. Wilson 'Personal Notes'. 38. PRO CAB 134/687. 39. PRO MT 47/203. 40. PRO CAB 134/687. 3 Consultation and Opposition l. R. Bell, History of the British Railways during the War, /939-45 (London, 1945). p. 239. 2. PRO MT 62/127. 3. Letter dated 24 December 1980 from G. W. Quick Smith to M. R. Bonavia. (In 1945, Quick Smith was Secretary and also the legal adviser of the RHA.) 4. PRO MT 74/86. 5. PRO MT 74/181. Biography of Ashfield, p. 173. Notes and References to pp. 25-8 171 6. John Cliff had not yet been appointed Deputy Chariman of London Transport, which took place in 1948; but on staff and organisation matters he could be regarded as the spokesman in Ashfield's absence. Biography on p. 176. 7. LPTB Minutes, 1946. 8. Ibid. 9. Letter dated 17 May 1981 from Michael Robbins (former LTE Board Member) to M. R. Bonavia. 10. T. C. Barker and R. M. Robbins, History of London Transport, vol. 2 (London, 1974) pp. 308-9. 11. P. S. Bagwell, The Railwaymen, vol. 2 (London, 1974) p. 60. 12. PRO MT 74/79. 13. Harley Drayton, as he was always known (though christened Harold Charles) (1901-1966) left school at 15 and joined a finance company which acquired the British Electric Traction Company in 1920. He played a major part in BET's disposal of its tramway undertakings and develop­ ment of bus companies, becoming in 1945 Chairman both of BET and of the investment trust company. He became also chairman of Provincial Newspapers Ltd, the Michael Cotts Group Ltd, and of a South American railway; he was active in the disposal of British interests in South American railways. He was also a director of the Midland Bank and the Standard Bank, and a Member of Council of the Institute of Directors. His Times obituary described him as 'a commanding figure in the City ... for a great many years he remained an enigma, even to many of his close friends. He talked little about his background and his early years ... it was merely by chance ... that ... he was revealed as a great collector and bibliophile as well as a connoisseur of pictures.' 14. In September 1948, after the Tilling bus interests had been sold to the BTC. 15. Roger Fulford, The Sixth Decade (History of the BET group) Privately printed (1956) p. 5. 16. Sir Robert Letch (knighted 1945) (1899-1962) joined the Port of London Authority in 1915 and had become Assistant General Manager by 1940.