Sir Allen George Clark (August 24, 1898 – June 30, 1962) was an American-born British industrialist who helped to build the

Plessey The Plessey Company plc was a British electronics, defence and telecommunications company. It originated in 1917, growing and diversifying into electronics. It expanded after World War II by acquisition of companies and formed overseas compani ...

company into one of Europe's largest manufacturers of telecommunications equipment, military electronics and aircraft components.

Early life

Allen George Clark was born in

Brookline, Massachusetts Brookline () is an affluent town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States, and part of the Greater Boston, Boston metropolitan area. An exclave of Norfolk County, Brookline borders six of Boston's neighborhoods: Brighton, Boston, Brighton ...

in 1898. His father was Byron George Clark, an American businessman who worked for United Shoe Machinery (USM). In 1905, Clark and his parents emigrated to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Following his education at Felsted School, Clark joined the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

and was wounded at

Cambrai Cambrai (, ; ; ), formerly Cambray and historically in English Camerick or Camericke, is a city in the Nord department and in the Hauts-de-France region of France on the Scheldt river, which is known locally as the Escaut river. A sub-pref ...

in 1917. He later joined the

Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...

and served in Egypt. In 1927 he became a British citizen.

Career

Clark joined the Plessey company in 1921 when his father bought a share of the company. Plessey was a small engineering company based in

Ilford Ilford is a large List of areas of London, town in East London, England, northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a po ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. Throughout the 1920s and 30s, Clark along with the engineer William Oscar Heyne built Plessey into a large engineering company. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Plessey made an outstanding contribution to the nation's war effort producing munitions, aircraft components and electronic equipment. Clark remained in charge of the company throughout these times. After the war, Plessey continued to expand under the guidance of Clark. New products included industrial

hydraulics Hydraulics () is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counterpart of pneumatics, which concer ...

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

equipment, telecommunications equipment and

semiconductor A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. Its conductivity can be modified by adding impurities (" doping") to its crystal structure. When two regions with different doping level ...

s. In 1961 Plessey acquired the British Ericsson Telephones and AT&E companies, to become Britain's largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer. Clark was awarded a knighthood in 1961. Allen George Clark died from cancer in 1962. After his death, both of his sons,

John Allen Clark Sir John Allen Clark (14 February 1926 – 3 December 2001) was managing director of the British Plessey Company, an electronics and telecommunications group built up by his father, Allen George Clark. His career with Plessey was dominated by a b ...

and Michael William Clark, continued to play an important role in the management of Plessey.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Allen George People educated at Felsted School British businesspeople in the armaments industry American expatriates in the United Kingdom Businesspeople from Brookline, Massachusetts Plessey 1898 births 1962 deaths Knights Bachelor Businesspeople awarded knighthoods Deaths from cancer in England British Army personnel of World War I 20th-century British businesspeople