Albert Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield
Albert Henry Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield, TD, PC (8 August 1874 – 4 November 1948), born Albert Henry Knattriess, was a British-American businessman who was managing director, then chairman of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) from 1910 to 1933 and chairman of the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) from 1933 to 1947.
The Lord Ashfield
4 November 1948 (aged 74)
London
Grace Lowrey
Although born in Britain, his early career was in the United States, where at a young age, he held senior positions in the developing tramway systems of Detroit and New Jersey. In 1898, he served in the United States Navy during the short Spanish–American War.
In 1907, his management skills led to his recruitment by the UERL, which was struggling through a financial crisis that threatened its existence. He quickly integrated the company's management and used advertising and public relations to improve profits. As managing director of the UERL from 1910, he led the take-over of competing underground railway companies and bus and tram operations to form an integrated transport operation known as the Combine.
He was Member of Parliament for Ashton-under-Lyne from December 1916 to January 1920 and was President of the Board of Trade between December 1916 and May 1919, reorganising the board and establishing specialist departments for various industries. He returned to the UERL and then chaired it and its successor the LPTB during the organisation's greatest period of expansion between the two World Wars, making it a world-respected organisation considered an exemplar of the best form of public administration.
Early life and career in United States[edit]
Stanley was born on 8 August 1874, in New Normanton, Derbyshire, England, the son of Henry and Elizabeth Knattriess (née Twigg). His father worked as a coachbuilder for the Pullman Company. In 1880, the family emigrated to Detroit in the United States, where he worked at Pullman's main factory. During the 1890s, the family changed its name to "Stanley".[1]
In 1888, at the age of 14, Stanley left school and went to work as an office boy at the Detroit Street Railways Company, which ran a horse-drawn tram system. He continued to study at evening school and worked long hours, often from 7.30 am to 10.00 pm.[2] His abilities were recognised early and Stanley was given responsibility for scheduling the services and preparing the timetables when he was 17. Following the expansion and electrification of the tramway, he became General Superintendent of the company in 1894.[3][4]
Stanley was a naval reservist and, during the brief Spanish–American War of 1898, he served in the United States Navy as a landsman in the crew of USS Yosemite alongside many others from Detroit.[1][5] In 1903, Stanley moved to New Jersey to become assistant general manager of the street railway department of the Public Service Corporation of New Jersey. The company had been struggling, but Stanley quickly improved its organisation and was promoted to general manager of the department in January 1904. In January 1907, he became general manager of the whole corporation, running a network of almost 1,000 route miles and 25,000 employees.[1][3]
In 1904, Stanley married Grace Lowrey (1878–1962) of New York.[1][6] The couple had two daughters: Marian Stanley (born 1906) and Grace Stanley (born 1907).[1][7][8]
Career in Britain[edit]
Rescue of the Underground Electric Railways Company[edit]
On 20 February 1907, Sir George Gibb, managing director of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL), appointed Stanley as its general manager.[9] The UERL was the holding company of four underground railways in central London.[10] Three of these (the District Railway, the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway and the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway) were already in operation and the fourth (the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway) was about to open.[11] The UERL had been established by American financier Charles Yerkes and much of the finance and equipment had been brought from the United States, so Stanley's experience of managing urban transit systems in that country made him an ideal candidate for the position. The cost of constructing three new lines in just a few years had put the company in a precarious monetary position and income was not sufficient to pay the interest on its loans.[12] Stanley's responsibility was to restore its finances.
Personality[edit]
Biographers of Stanley characterise him as having an "immensely active mind, and a strong sense of public duty" and a "great charm of manner and a sense of humour which concealed an almost ruthless determination" that made him a "formidable negotiator".[1] His "intuitive understanding of his fellow men" gave him "presence, which allowed him to dominate meetings effortlessly" and "inspired loyalty, devotion even, among his staff".[52] He was "a dapper ladies' man, something of a playboy tycoon, who was always smartly turned out and enjoyed moving in high society".[53]