Fleming, Arthur Percy Morris 1881 - 1961

Arthur Percy Morris Fleming was born on the Isle of Wight in 1881 and educated at Portland House Academy, Isle of Wight. He attended Finsbury Technical College, London as a student of electrical engineering. He worked for the London Electric Supply Corporation and Elliott Brothers prior to being selected by the British Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co Ltd in 1900 to attend a training course at its parent company's factory, Westinghouse Electric Company, Pittsburgh, America. British Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Co Ltd had recently established itself at Trafford Park, Manchester.

Fleming and the other attendees on the course became known as the “Holy Forty”. They were trained in American methods of manufacturing, which later formed the nucleus of training in the Trafford Park factory. After spending two years in America he arrived at the Trafford Park Works in 1902 as a specialist in electrical insulation.

Fleming was responsible for setting up the initial training for all new schoolboy recruits entering the company. He established and developed a trade apprentice training school in 1914 and was made manager of the company’s training department. As well as developing the training of apprentices, Fleming realised the company would benefit from having its own research department. The First World War delayed his ambitions to set up such a department until 1920. The same year he was awarded a C.B.E. for his wartime contribution towards the detection of submarines as part of the Lancashire Submarine Committee.

Along with his work at British Westinghouse, later to become Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co Ltd, Fleming was also member of the Council of the University of Manchester. He served on the governing body of Imperial College of Science and Technology, as well as on the delegacy of the City and Guilds of London Institution, the War Cabinet Engineering Advisory Committee and Lord Hankey’s Technical Personnel Committee. He chaired numerous trade federations and bodies. He was knighted in 1945.

Fleming died on the Isle of Wight in 1961.