A blog by Asha Gage, IET Archivist.
This is a story about an electrical engineer, Godfrey George Bayley, who began his career on the workshop floor rising through the ranks to be so highly considered by his employers he was sent abroad to Malaya and India as head electrical engineer. Understanding the route towards this achievement and the work undertaken comes from analysis of the records his daughter donated to the IET Archives. We are grateful for donations such as these as they highlight the personal story of our members on their journey from Student to Member and everything in-between.
Godfrey was born on 7 January 1901. His interest in engineering started young, with is enrolment as a student at Faraday House Electrical Engineering College, London from September 1918 to August 1922. He passed the exams for the Diploma in the first class and spent a year as an apprentice in two companies.
During this time, he joined the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) as a Student Member in 1921. From September 1919 to September 1920, he was employed as a pupil at Cole, Marchent & Morley Ltd, Bradford, Prospect Works, in the foundry, machine, fitting and erecting works department. He then went to work at The Lancashire Electric Power Company in Radcliffe in 1922 but moved to the firm’s Manchester branch in 1924. Here he was employed as a Junior Mains Engineer for approximately 18 months. During that time Godfrey was engaged with all classes of work connected with the supply side of the electrical industry, that included the supervision of large cable laying jobs, substation erection and maintenance of the system. Prior to this he was a pupil in the fourth year of his training at Faraday House. A letter of recommendation from the firm noted Godfrey’s commitment to his work and studies when they wrote in 1922,
“…you gave more attention to your work than any Faraday House Student we have had” NAEST 300/02/02
A second letter from The Lancashire Electric Power Company in 1924 outlines his work experience in the laying of various classes of cable, namely 33,000 volt and 10,000 volt three phase transmission mains and 400 volt low tension distributors. In 1924 he was engaged on sub-station work as one of the Assistants of the Substation Superintendent.
From October 1924 to 1933 Godfrey was employed as a contract engineer with the British Insulated Cables Ltd. This employment took him to a job in Wales as detailed by a letter from Arthur Ellis & Partners Consulting Engineers in Cardiff dated 9 September 1927. Godrey completed the contract for streetlamps in Pontyrhyll. They were extremely pleased with the work, especially in regard to the High Tension and Low Tension Works.
In recognition of his increasing levels of aptitude Godfrey was accepted into the Graduate Class of the IEE in 1926 rising to Associate Member only two years later in 1928. In between this period Godfrey was sent on international service in November 1927, the experience no doubt, assisting his application to this higher class of membership.
Whilst employed by British Insulated Cables Ltd they considered a hallmark of their confidence in his personal and professional character by sending him to work in the Federated Malay States in November 1927. A copy of The Electrical Review Supplement from December 1930 congratulates Godfrey on his work there. It explains that since the War, industry in the Malay Peninsula had increased, mainly due to the progress in applying electrical power to help mining and other industries. A photograph is published of Godfrey in the throes of planting an electric pole in a jungle swamp and all the difficulties associated with it – including dealing with the abundance of insect life in the jungle!
During his time in the Malay States there are several beautiful records that have been donated to the IET Archives that richly illustrate Godfrey’s adventures there. These consist of his personal documentary photographs, a dinner menu for the Grand Hotel Ipoh opening night of a new ballroom on 22 December 1928, a certificate of competency as a first-grade electrical engineer from the Government of the Federated Malay States, 15 October 1929. And lastly, 5 illustrated dinner menus from MS Terukuni Maru, a Japanese ocean liner that had a usual scheduled port of call at Penang, dated from 1930. We do not know Godfrey’s involvement with these latter records, but they were obviously held in high regard and worthy of preservation by him. Two examples are below, reference NAEST 300/04/06.
By 1933 the IEE Membership list records Godfrey continuing as an Associate Member but with an address in Sussex, UK. He remained in England for a time with registered addresses in Essex and Surrey but his personal records show that between 1934-1935 he was stationed in India.
From 5 February 1934 to 12 March 1935, he served in the Rawalpindi Electric Power Company Ltd as Head Electrical Engineer. A large card-backed photograph of staff at The Rawalpindi Electric Power Company Ltd, annotated on the back, places Godfrey firmly in India [Pakistan post 1947] reference NAEST 300/03/05.
As further testimonial of his time abroad there is a manuscript letter from the Chairman of the Rawalpindi Electric Power company Ltd, 3 July 1935, confirming Godfrey’s employment with them from 1934-1935 as Head Electrical Engineer (reference NAEST 300/02/08).
Another interesting item from Godfrey’s time in India relates to the Attock Bridge. Godfrey was in possession of a permit from the Peshawar District dated 4 March 1935 that gave him permission to cross the Attock Bridge. The bridge is situated on the Indus River, in what is now Pakistan. The bridge is still one of the most important strategic and commercial crossing on the Indus River and was heavily fortified. Godfrey’s work as an electrical engineer must have meant that he had to cross this bridge as part of his employ and this permit is evidence of the importance of the work he undertook.
Unfortunately, we do not know the nature of the work Godfrey did in India but it appears he had returned to England by 1937 as he is listed in the IEE Membership list with an address in Essex and a year later in Surrey. This ties in with a letter that places him in the Croydon area in 1938.
From 1 September 1938 he was appointed as District Mains Engineer, Croydon Area. In 1941 he was employed by McLellan and Partners as Assistant Clerk of Works at the Royal Ordinance Factories. The conditions of employment included the expectation to reside near his chosen site, most likely near Leicester or Derby. His working hours were between 9-5:30pm Monday to Friday and 9-1pm on Saturday but due to the “special and important nature” of his work he may have been called outside of these hours. As the work was of “extreme urgency and great national importance” Godfrey had to sign the Official Secrets Acts. He was not to “disclose any information whatever regarding the work upon which you are engaged.” (NAEST 300/02/10)
Regrettably, we will never learn what Godfrey’s work was that was of national importance, like so many during the War.
This is where the information from the records ends but not Godfrey’s story. The IEE Membership list from 1946 records Godfrey as living in Surrey and was a member of the Installation Section and the Transmission Section, two specialised groups within the IEE. By 1948 he had moved to Caernarvonshire in Wales. This part of Godfrey’s life is corroborated by his daughter who told us that he left engineering to buy a hill farm in North Wales in 1948 and indeed this is the final entry in our membership lists. He retired to Criccieth, a coastal town in Wales. He later emigrated to Melbourne Australia in his 70s and died in 1996. Godfrey had a great career as an engineer that took him on adventures from the workshop floor in the industrial North of England to bringing electrical power to the other side of the world.
Feature image : ‘The linesmen at play!’ The photograph shows how the men climb the poles by gripping with the hollows of their feet. Captured by Godfrey Bayley in Perak November 1929, reference NAEST 300/03/01.
