Alexander Valentine
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Sir Alexander (Alec) Balmain Bruce Valentine
OStJ The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (), commonly known as the Order of St John, and also known as St John International, is an order of chivalry constituted in 1888 by royal charter from Queen Victoria and dedica ...
MA (22 December 1899 – 1 December 1977), was Chairman of the
London Transport Executive The London Transport Executive was the organisation responsible for public transport in Greater London, England between 1948 and 1962. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operational brand o ...
from 1959 to 1963 and Chairman of the
London Transport Board The London Transport Board was the organisation responsible for public transport (except main-line trains) in London, England, and its environs from 1963 to 1969. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public na ...
from 1963 to 1965.


Family

Valentine was born in
Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...
, the son of Mr & Mrs Milward Valentine and grandson of
Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
theologian Alexander Balmain Bruce. He married Beryl Barter in 1936 and the couple had three children, one son and two daughters.


Career

Valentine was educated at
Highgate School Highgate School, formally Sir Roger Cholmeley's School at Highgate, is a co-educational, fee-charging, private day school, founded in 1565 in Highgate, London, England. It educates over 1,400 pupils in three sections – Highgate Pre-Preparato ...
and
Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...
before working in the gas industry until 1927. In 1928, he moved to the
Underground Group The Underground Electric Railways Company of London, Limited (UERL), known operationally as the Underground for much of its existence, was established in 1902. It was the holding company for the three deep-level "tube"A "tube" railway is an un ...
where he worked as assistant to its managing director
Frank Pick Frank Pick Royal Institute of British Architects, Hon. RIBA (23 November 1878 – 7 November 1941) was a British transport administrator. After qualifying as a solicitor in 1902, he worked at the North Eastern Railway (UK), North Eastern Ra ...
. After the Underground Group was absorbed into the
London Passenger Transport Board The London Passenger Transport Board was the organisation responsible for local public transport in London and its environs from 1933 to 1948. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and brand was Londo ...
(LPTB) in 1933, he remained with Pick (who became the LPTB's vice-chairman) until 1936. Valentine then held a series of senior management positions within the LPTB including Chief Commercial Officer and Operating Manager (Railways). When the LPTB was
nationalised Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with ...
in 1948, Valentine was made a member of the board of the
London Transport Executive The London Transport Executive was the organisation responsible for public transport in Greater London, England between 1948 and 1962. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public name and operational brand o ...
(LTE), the LPTB's replacement. As part of the board, Valentine argued for the abandonment of
Trams in London {"type":"FeatureCollection","properties":{"name":"Trams in London","created":"2012-04-21T00:56:34.661+02:00","modified":"2018-04-16T22:45:37.383+02:00","generated":"2019-03-30T15:47:12.111+01:00","version":-1,"metadata":""},"features":
, seeing them as a major cause of "type": ...
, seeing them as a major cause of road congestion, which would be relieved by the introduction of buses, with the aesthetic benefit of doing away with overhead wires and the noisy operation of trams. He was also a member of the London Plan Working Party between 1946 and 1948 which led planning for new transport routes in the capital including the Victoria line">Greater London Plan">London Plan Working Party between 1946 and 1948 which led planning for new transport routes in the capital including the Victoria line built in the 1960s and 1970s. He served on the LTE board until 1954 when he moved to the board of the LTE's parent, the British Transport Commission (BTC). In 1959, while remaining a member of the BTC board, he returned to the LTE as its chairman and remained in that position until the LTE was abolished and replaced with the
London Transport Board The London Transport Board was the organisation responsible for public transport (except main-line trains) in London, England, and its environs from 1963 to 1969. In common with all London transport authorities from 1933 to 2000, the public na ...
of which he was also chairman until he retired in 1965. Valentine was a member of the
Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (), sometimes referred to by the Portmanteau, portmanteau Chunnel, is a undersea railway tunnel, opened in 1994, that connects Folkestone (Kent, England) with Coquelles (Pas-de-Calais, France) beneath the English Channel at ...
Study Group from 1957 to 1962 and a director of the Channel Tunnel Company from 1956 to 1969. He was a Fellow of the
Chartered Institute of Transport The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) is a professional body representing the transport and logistics industries worldwide. It is a membership-based organisation with over 30,000 members in over 40 countries. This i ...
and served as its president in 1951–1952 and was President of the
Design and Industries Association The Design and Industries Association is a United Kingdom charity whose object is to ''engage with all those who share a common interest in the contribution that design can make to the delivery of goods and services that are sustainable and enhance ...
in 1963–1964. He was Colonel commanding the
Engineer and Railway Staff Corps The Engineer and Logistic Staff Corps is a part of the Royal Engineers in the British Army Reserve. It is intended to provide advisers on engineering and logistics to the British Army at a senior level. Following its work creating the NHS Nightin ...
of the
Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...
from 1963 to 1964. Valentine was granted a
knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...
in the Queen's birthday honours list in 1964. Valentine was a keen bird-watcher and walker, and, taking his pen-name from a British wild bird, he wrote articles on country walks as ''Fieldfare'' in the '' Evening News'' during the 1930s. A collection of these was published as ''Tramping Round London'' in 1933.


References


External links


London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
** {{DEFAULTSORT:Valentine, Alexander 1899 births 1977 deaths Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford Engineer and Railway Staff Corps officers Knights Bachelor British Army soldiers People educated at Highgate School People associated with transport in London People from Stockport Military personnel from Manchester 20th-century British Army personnel Officers_of_the_Order_of_St_John