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Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London

COX, Harold Roxbee, Baron Kings Norton of Wotton Underwood (1902-1997)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0099 KCLMA Cox

Held at: Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London

Title: COX, Harold Roxbee, Baron Kings Norton of Wotton Underwood (1902-1997)

Date(s): 1999 (1902-1997)

Level of description: Collection (Fonds)

Extent: 1 volume (140pp)

Name of creator(s): Cox | Harold Roxbee | 1902-1997 | Baron Kings Norton of Wotton Underwood | aeronautical engineer

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born 1902; educated at Kings Norton Grammar School, London University (external engineering degree, 1922); Imperial College London, (PhD in aeronautics, 1924); engineer on construction of Airship R101, 1924-1929; Airworthiness Dept, Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, 1929-1930; Chief Technical Officer, Royal Airship Works, 1931; Scientific Officer, Royal Aircraft Establishment, working on investigation of wing flutter and stability of structures, 1931-1935; Lecturer in aircraft structures, Aeronautics Department, Imperial College London, 1932-1938; Principal Scientific Officer, RAE, 1935-1936; Head of Air Defence Department, RAE, 1936-1938; Chief Technical Officer, Air Registration Board, 1938-1939; Superintendent of Scientific Research, RAE, 1939-1940; Deputy Director of Scientific Research, Ministry of Aircraft Production, 1940-1943; Director of Special Projects, Ministry of Aircraft Production, 1943-1944, Chairman and Managing Director Power Jets (Research and Development) Ltd, 1944-1946; Director, Gas Turbine Establishment, 1946-1948; Chief Scientist, Ministry of Fuel and Power, 1948-1954; Kt 1953; Created Baron Kings Norton of Wotton Underwood (Life Peer), 1965; Chancellor, Cranfield University (formerly Cranfield Institute of Technology), 1969-1997, died 1997. Publications: numerous papers on theory of structures, wing flutter, gas turbines, civil aviation and airships.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Autobiography of Harold Roxbee Cox, Baron Kings Norton of Wotton Underwood "A Wrack Behind" (Cranfield University Press, 1999), covering his life and career, particularly the design and construction of the airship R.101, his association with Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle and the development of the jet propulsion gas turbine, and his association with Cranfield University.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

Single volume

Conditions governing access:

Open, subject to signature of reader's undertaking form.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Trustees of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, attention of the Director of Archive Services.

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Presented by family, Mar 2000

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY (GB1914): Papers of Harold Roxbee Cox, Baron King's Norton. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY: CHURCHILL ARCHIVES CENTRE (GB0014) Papers of Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle contain a great deal of material by Cox and about his wartime role in the development of the jet engine and as Chairman of Power Jets (Research and Development) Ltd

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Archivist's note: Sources: Who's Who. Compiled by Alan Kucia as part of the RSLP AIM25 Project.

Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: August 2001


INDEX ENTRIES
Subjects
Air transport | Transport
Jet engines | Aircraft engineering | Engineering
Aeronautics
Aerospace engineering

Personal names
Cox | Harold Roxbee | 1902-1997 | Baron Kings Norton of Wotton Underwood | aeronautical engineer
Whittle | Sir | Frank | 1907-1996 | Knight | Air Commodore | engineer and inventor

Corporate names
Air Ministry
Cranfield University

Places