Mr Edward F.P. Bennett (Mechanical Engineering 1936)

Provided by Hilary Pogge von Strandmann

Edward grew up in London, attended Westminster School and then studied Mechanical Engineering at Imperial College, graduating in 1936. He worked for a couple of years for a boiler-making firm in London and then moved to  Derby in 1938 to work for International Combustion Ltd which produced complete steam generating plant for power stations and industry and related and associated equipment.

During the war he was refused permission to volunteer as his job was a protected one. He became Chief Volunteer Fireman for Derby and remembers peddling down the hill the five miles or so on his bike towards the centre of Derby, often just about getting there when the `all clear´ would sound and he would turn round and peddle back up the hill again.

He stayed at Combustion for the rest of his working life, training in the mid-fifties as a Nuclear Engineer at Harwell, Risley and Calder Hall and then headed the group which developed and manufactured plant for nuclear power applications. It became one of the major international companies to undertake this type of work.

He became a Director of various of the group companies, including those of Nuclear Applications in 1956, and Exports in 1964, (the latter taking him abroad, principally to the USA, Australia and New Zealand) and of Atomic Power Construction of which International Combustion was a major shareholder and participant. In 1964 he became Managing Director of International Combustion Ltd, and a year later Chairman of the associated group of companies. In the last few years before he retired he acted as a Consultant.

He retired in 1974, continuing to live just outside Derby with his wife Beryl, whom he had married in 1938, and pursuing his interests in sport (he was particularly adept at badminton and tennis), hill and mountain-walking, travelling, supporting the preservation of the countryside and wildlife, and tending his large and beautiful garden.

Edward died suddenly at home a week before his ninety-third birthday. His wife Beryl had predeceased him by ten months, and he continued for that time still fairly healthy if less mobile, with typical fortitude and as ever modest and humorous. He is survived by three children and two grandchildren.