Patrick Whitehouse
Patrick Whitehouse OBE | |
---|---|
Officer of the Order of the British Empire |
Patrick Bruce Whitehouse
Early life
Patrick Bruce Whitehouse was born in Warwick, the son of Cecil Whitehouse who was the co-owner of the family construction firm B. Whitehouse and Sons based in Birmingham, West Midlands and his wife Phyllis (née Bucknell), who was a descendant of the founding family of the shipping line that became the Ellerman & Bucknell Steamship Company.[1]
Career
RAF: 1939–1945
Educated at
Assigned to
Construction: 1946–1970
Post-WW2, Whitehouse returned to the family firm, initially becoming number three behind his father and uncle. He succeeded his uncle as chairman, but sold the business in 1964 to Holland Hannen & Cubbits Ltd. This allowed him to serve on their board until 1971, being appointed
Railway preservation
Whitehouse was a member of what later became chronicled as the "Birmingham Railway Mafia", a group centred around a core of steam railway enthusiasts who were members of both the Birmingham Locomotive Club and West Midlands branch of the Stephenson Locomotive Society.[1]
Newly married, Whitehouse bought a
Talyllyn Railway
In 1950, the
In the mid-1950s, a number of Whitehouse's Talyllyn friends formed a group to attempt a revival of the Ffestiniog Railway in North Wales, and Whitehouse contributed to this preservation effort as well.[1] In 1968, a group of business people, including Whitehouse, made an offer to BR to purchase the Vale of Rheidol Railway, which was turned down by the Labour Party government.[4]
4555 and the Dart Valley Railway
In 1962/3, B Whitehouse & Sons Ltd had been commissioned to rebuild a bridge and walls at Walsall railway station. With the oncoming introduction of diesel and electric services to the area, and subsequent rationalisation and simplification of the required infrastructure, the BR specification changed on numerous occasions resulting in large cost rises. At a subsequent meeting between Whitehouse and the regional manager Stanley Raymond (who as Sir Stanley Raymond, succeeded Dr Richard Beeching as chairman of the Board of British Railways), the cost issues were resolved, and Raymond asked if he could help Whitehouse with anything else. Whitehouse responded that he wanted to buy a steam locomotive, which after within the room discussions with his staff, Raymond agreed to.[1]
Whitehouse and fellow Talyllyn member Pat Garland secured Great Western Railway 4500 Class Small Prairie Tank No.4555 for £750, which included a light overhaul at Swindon Works, a spare boiler, a wagon load of spares and free delivery to Tyseley TMD. Subsequently utilised lightly by BR around the Birmingham area, Whitehouse and his friends wanted to run the locomotive on a GWR branch line. Having originally focused on the already closed GWR Kingswear branch in Devon, with track already being removed they then focused on the Dart Valley Railway from Buckfastleigh to Ashburton. Operated from the outset – as had the Talyllyn and the Ffestiniog – as a commercial railway, in the first year the Dart Valley carried 60,000 passengers at a profit.[1]
Clun Castle and Tyseley
In 1965, an agreement was made to purchase
Clun Castle was purchased by the Standard Gauge Steam Trust. Whitehouse helped secure a lease from BR on part of GWR Tyseley
Photographer, writer and publisher
In 1952, with Tom Rolt undertaking the writing and Whitehouse contributing the photographs and research, Whitehouse co-authored his first book "Lines of Character". Five years later he wrote his first solo book "Narrow Gauge Album", published by Ian Allan Publishing.[1] Whitehouse became the author or co-author of 53 books on railways,[7] and built up a collection of more than a quarter of a million photographs of British and foreign railways. In the 1980s, his travels in China led to a long-standing friendship with the China Railway Publishing House in Beijing, and a treaty of friendship between Birmingham and the north-eastern city of Changchun, Manchuria.
Published under the title Millbrook House, the publishers collection of over 250,000 photographs – from both those taken by Whitehouse, and the collections he purchased – became known as the Millbrook House collection. After his death, the majority of the photographs that he took himself known as the Whitehouse Collection was donated to the nation, acquired by the National Railway Museum.[8]
Whitehouse had inherited a
Family
His book, China By Rail was co-authored by his daughter Maggy Whitehouse. His son Michael Whitehouse is a lawyer specialising in rail transport,[10] and non-executive director of the Rail Freight Group.[11]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Humm, Robert (1 November 2017). "PB Whitehouse". Railway Magazine. United Kingdom: Mortons Media Group Ltd. pp. 28–33.
- ^ "No. 44326". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 June 1952. p. 6282.
- ^ "Patrick Whitehouse". The Times. 17 August 1993. p. 17.
- ^ The Railway Preservation Revolution: A History of Britain's Heritage Railways by Jonathan Brown, p. 52
- ^ "Tyseley Loco Works". Tyseleylocoworks.co.uk. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
- ^ "Shakespeare Express - Steam Train Services between Birmingham & Stratford-upon-Avon". Archived from the original on 11 August 2004. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
- ^ "Amazon.com: P. B. Whitehouse: Books". Amazon.com. Retrieved 13 August 2017.
- ^ Archives, The National. "The Discovery Service". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk.
- ^ "Railway Roundabout DVD Box Set". Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
- ^ "Lawyer finder - Michael Whitehouse - Wragge & Co - UK Law Firm". Archived from the original on 26 November 2009. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
- ^ "Michael Whitehouse - Festipedia". Festipedia.org.uk. Retrieved 13 August 2017.