 When Bailey
became chairman, E. W. Steele, the works manager, was made general
manager of works, and later in 1944 he joined the Board. In his place
W. Symes, who had been superintendent of detail department since 1935,
was appointed manager of the main works. Coming to Trafford Park from
the B.T.H. in 1914, Symes had done pioneer work in time and motion
study after the first war. On the pre-1939 defence programme he was
responsible for the manufacture of searchlight projectors, sound locators
and gun mountings, and later he planned the shop extensions and superintended
the manufacture of radar equipment.
Two
of the best known personalities in the works—Tom Smith and
Sam Ratcliffe—retired in July 1944. Tom Smith had had no less
than fifty-three years, service, counting an early period with the
Westinghouse Company in America. The process and rate department
had been under his care almost continuously since its inception,
and for many years he instigated progress in the design of machine
tools and the development of high-speed cutting steels. He had some
of the best attributes of the Scot, including a great fund of anecdotes.
Sam
Ratcliffe had been with the Company for nearly forty-two years,
for twenty-six of which he was chairman of the works committee.
An ardent trade unionist, he served for long periods on the national
committee of the A.E.U., the Manchester and Salford Trades and Labour
Council, and the committee of the Manchester Engineering Council;
he became a well known figure at the Trades Union Congress and at
the annual conferences of the Labour Party, and in 1941 he received
an M.B.E. for his services to Labour. Since 1922 he has been a J.P.
for Lancashire.
This
record notwithstanding, Ratcliffe was one of the most modest of
men. In spite of many inducements he remained to the end of his
career on the first radialarm drilling machine at the main crossing
in E aisle, and it was inside the factory that his greatest work
was done. He was associated with the running of the works benevolent
fund, the long service association, and the M-V Club, and above
all he was chairman of the works committee from 1917 to 1942. In
this capacity he was a most efficient channel of communication between
the management and 'the man on the floor of the shop'. Few have
made a greater contribution to the smooth running of the works,
and at the same time he held the loyalty of his fellow workers and
fought their battles. In disputes he was a patient seeker after
the truth. In conference his man-to-man approach and his breadth
of view brought him success. A lifetime of service to his fellow-men
found its reward in their universal regard and affection.
The
Company suffered a severe loss in January 1941 when C. S. Richards
was drowned while bathing in Brazil, where he was on a Government
trade mission. Following early training at the works, he had served
on the mechanical side in Russia, as acting manager from 1914 to
1917, and in Japan; he became joint managing director of the Export
Company in 1922 and was elected to the Board of the parent Company
in 1933.
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