William Reginald Dermot Manning was born on 12th February 1903. He was educated at Harrow School and Cambridge University, where he graduated in the Mechanical Science Tripos in 1925. In 1926 he joined Brunner, Mond and Co, which later that year became part of Imperial Chemical Industries. The following year he was awarded the John Wimbolt prize jointly with Sir Christopher Hinton.

Manning worked as part of the group studying the effects of high pressure at the Northwich Laboratory. In 1933 he was part of the team that discovered polythene and would work on it for the next 6 years. In 1937 he was responsible for the design and preliminary operation of a pilot plant that aimed to produce the new material. This was followed by a commercial operation in 1939.

During the Second World War Manning was seconded to the ‘Tube Alloys’ project, which was a research and development project that aimed to develop an atomic bomb. In 1943 he became the resident manager of the Rhydymwyn Valley Works before returning to his work for ICI in 1945. He would continue his work in the company’s Plastics division, becoming Assistant Chief Engineer in 1950. In 1962 he retired from ICI but continued to work as a consultant engineer and a visiting professor at Loughborough University.

W.R.D. Manning was also an associate member of Institution of Chemical Engineers and elected Honorary Fellow of Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1977. He would die at the age of 80 on 21st January 1984.