AN AUSPICIOUS day for Rugby’s pioneering engineering community took place 50 years ago on Friday (May 12).
On that date in 1967, The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh – who has recently announced he will retire from public duty – visited English Electric’s Willans Works.
An excited crowd of over 5,000 lined the streets outside the railway station to greet the Royal visitors.
The Royals were met at the works – now occupied by General Electric – by English Electric’s Chairman Lord Nelson and the Lord Lieutenant of Warwickshire John Verney, 20th Baron Willoughby de Broke.
They toured the length of the factory, starting in the Apprentice Training School where they were presented with a miniature tool kit by the apprentices, and then through the Erecting Shop where special displays showing the work of the various English Electric factories were exhibited.
The Queen with Lord Nelson and J.K. Souter (General Manager, Steam Turbine Division) passing a steam turbine rotor. Photo: Warwickshire County Record Office Ref. CR4031/7/248.
The route included the machine shops as well as the foundry, where the spectacular climax came with the pouring of a bedplate casting for an English Electric 16 S.V. diesel engine.
After signing the Visitor’s Book, the Queen was presented with a bouquet of roses by Ruth Wallis, the five-year-old daughter of Works Manager C.J.O. Wallis.
During the tour it was noticed Prince Phillip had mysteriously disappeared, causing much consternation among tour directors. The Duke was later discovered chatting to employees in the canteen!
Brian Godden, one of the apprentices working there at the time, said he and his colleagues had spent days cleaning up the factory to prepare for the visit.
He told The Observer: “The Queen walked down the central gangway flanked by the foremen in their pristine white overalls, while the workers stood by their machines or work stations.
“I believe that a Royal loo was built in the Willians medical centre for the use of The Queen. This was never used, and was destroyed on her exit from Rugby.
“Also there is a pond on the Willians site that was used when the turbines were tested to cool them – a most dismal site. So during the Queen’s visit it was dyed blue!”
The Queen told Lord Nelson the visit had been “a real education” for her.
The Royals then visited Rugby School to mark its 400th anniversary, where The Queen told those assembled: “I am delighted to visit Rugby on the 400th anniversary of the school. Rugby occupies a special place among our schools and Rugbeians have played a notable part in the history of our country.”
Her Majesty planted a golden elm on The Close, using the spade used by King Edward VII when he planted an oak there in 1909.
More information on the Royal visit and other historical documents about the history of the Willans Works is held in the archives at Warwickshire County Record Office in Warwick.
