Glover, Charles William 1891 - 1976

(1891-1976) Engineer

Captain Charles William Glover was born in 1891. Between 1911 and 1914 he acted as the bridges engineer for the Bolivia Railway Company before serving in the Royal Garrison Artillery during the First World War. Following this conflict he became a partner at the engineering firm Walter Bridges & Co until 1927. He then founded and became the senior partner of C.W. Glover and Partners, a position that he held until his death in 1976. This was a consulting engineering and architectural firm which worked on numerous projects, mostly large constructions including bridges and factories, as well as, prior to and during the Second World War, on the provision of air raid shelters.

During his time as a consulting engineer Captain Glover proposed two projects to build elevated airports and markets above the sidings at Kings Cross. The first of these, initially developed in 1931, put forward the idea of four runways arranged like spokes of a wheel, so that aircraft could land regardless of the direction of the wind, with a taxiway around the outside giving access to the towers that would support the structure, which would also act as hangars. This scheme would also include a coach station, with room for 150 coaches, as well as integrated access to the London Underground and railway stations. It was hoped that this would combine all forms of transport into one convenient site.

In 1961 he proposed a similar project when he suggested that Covent Garden Market should be moved to a new building that would again be built on stilts above the railway at Kings Cross. This new structure would house not only the market but would also be built with a heliport on the roof. Both of these projects were supported by Central Airports Ltd, of which he was a director, but were met with opposition and were never brought to fruition.

During the 1930s Captain Glover was also a council member for the Anti-Noise League and was involved in a 1935 exhibition about noise abatement at the Science Museum. As part of this he constructed a demonstration house to illustrate advances in sound proofing.