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Ken
was born in 1923 and was brought up in London where his mother was a
teacher of English and Music and his father was a headmaster. It
was naturally assumed that he would follow in his parents’ footsteps
but he had absolutely no desire to become a teacher and anyway, the war
intervened.
During the war, Ken’s school was evacuated to Slough in Buckinghamshire
where he was a member of the School Unit of the Air Defence Training
Corps (later renamed the Air Training Corps). He left school at the end
of 1941 and applied to join the RAF but his need to wear glasses ruled
out aircrew and while the RAF dragged their heels the Ministry of
Labour put him through training as an Instrument Maker and as an
Engineering Draughtsman and then in September 1942, the Ministry of
Labour offered him the choice of a job in Newcastle upon Tyne or the
somewhat more local Slough. He opted for the job in Slough at
Citroën Cars Ltd.’s factory on the Trading Estate. This was a
reserved occupation which meant he would not be conscripted.
Since the production of cars had ended, the company made components for
the war effort and also assembled 23,480 Ford and GM military trucks
for the Canadian army.
He also joined the National Fire Service as a part-time despatch rider
and cartographer of water supplies, working in the evenings, weekends
and holidays.
After the war and once car production resumed, he created the first
Citroën Cars Ltd. Technical Training Centre from scratch and was Chief
Instructor providing training to dealers. He was also responsible
for ensuring that the British-built cars conformed to the various Acts
and Orders relating to the manufacture of cars at Slough and also for
obtaining National Type Approval for vehicles imported from 1977.
In December 1946, he married Agnes Louise (known as Nancy) who
predeceased him in March 2010.
From May 1946 he worked at the Slough Production Methods Department and
this meant he always had a great deal of contact with Paris regarding
adapting production methods from the large numbers built in Paris to
the much lower volumes envisaged at Slough. When the DS was being
developed, Ken was involved at an early stage and he had to discover
everything about the DS in all its details; to assess and acquire
compliance with all the British Road Traffic Acts, Construction and Use
Regulations, Vehicle Lighting Regulations and all other relevant Acts
and Orders; to assess the changes necessary in order to assemble, trim
and paint the vehicles at Slough. This was a vehicle which was
totally different from the Light Fifteen, Big Fifteen and Six
Cylinder. At short notice he had to become familiar with all the
components, units, assemblies and items in the car and to learn how
they functioned, in particular the hydropneumatic suspension, the
hydraulically operated clutch and gearchange, brakes and steering and
to prepare a summary of components and materials for local purchase
before production in the UK could commence. From 1954, he spent
almost half his time at the Bureau d'Etudes in Paris until shortly
before the launch of the DS at the 1955 salon. This meant he got to see
all sorts of ‘top secret’ studies.
Ken was given the job of producing the right hand drive SM. This
was on top of all his other responsibilities and he did not have enough
time so the work was undertaken by Middleton Motors under his
guidance. When Citroën bought Maserati, he was sent to Italy to
liaise with the Maserati people and even went to evening classes to
learn Italian…
Richard Bonfond (whose father, Albert ran the West Coast American
Citroën Car Corporation) worked for Citroën for several years in the
early seventies including some time at Citroën Cars Limited in Slough
where he dealt with Ken on a regular basis. He said, “Not only did I
learn to respect him for his knowledge of the make but he was an
absolute jewel of a man, whose office door was always open. Never did I
see him lose his temper or raise his voice no matter the
situation. He was a true gentleman who will be missed.”
Ken retired from Citroën in August 1988.
He is survived by a daughter, Kathleen and a son, Leslie to whom I offer my sincere condolences.
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