Sir Ernest Willoughby Petter (26 May 1873 – 18 July 1954) was an English industrialist and unsuccessful politician.

Biography

Ernest and Percival Waddams Petter (1873–1955) were

identical twins Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two e ...

born on 26 May 1873 in High Street,

Yeovil Yeovil () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Somerset, England. It is close to Somerset's southern border with Dorset, west of London, south of Bristol, west of Sherborne and east of Taunton. The population of the bui ...

, Somerset. They were the third and fourth of the fifteen children born to James Bazeley Petter, an

ironmonger Ironmongery originally referred, first, to the manufacture of iron goods and, second, to the place of sale of such items for domestic rather than industrial use. In both contexts, the term has expanded to include items made of steel, aluminium ...

and

iron founder An iron founder (also iron-founder or ironfounder) in its more general sense is a worker in molten ferrous metal, generally working within an iron foundry. However, the term 'iron founder' is usually reserved for the owner or manager of an iron fou ...

, of Yeovil, and his wife, Charlotte Waddams. The twins initially attended school in

Sherborne Sherborne is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in north west Dorset, in South West England. It is sited on the River Yeo (South Somerset), River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. The parish include ...

, then went to

Yeovil Grammar School Yeovil Grammar School was a grammar school in Yeovil, Somerset, which was founded or refounded about 1860 and closed in 1906 when its only headmaster, Henry Monk, retired. The 19th-century grammar school grew out of a long-established charity sc ...

before being sent off to Mount Radford School, Exeter, at age 14. They left school in 1890 and began apprenticing with their father. Ernest, along with his twin Percy, had built the Petter Horseless Carriage by 1895, the first British car with an internal combustion engine. The car, using a converted four-wheel horse-drawn phaeton and a 3 hp (2 kW) horizontal

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

engine, had a top speed of .Lukins, A. H. ''The Book of Westland Aircraft'' (Leicester: Harborough, 1944), p. 5 The vehicle weighed 9 cwt (457 kg) including the 120 lb (55 kg) of the Petter engine with its flywheel and side bars.South Somerset Museums
The brothers co-founded the Yeovil Motor Car Co. Ltd. in 1895 with their father, making two-person motor carriages. However, the venture was not commercially viable, and the company transitioned to making engines for industrial and agricultural customers. Ernest and Percy then proceeded to purchase the company from their father in 1901, and restructured it into James B Petter & Sons, both serving as managing directors. Westland Aircraft Works was set up in 1915 as a division of Petters to build military aircraft; in the same year the Petters constructed the

Short Type 184 The Short Admiralty Type 184, often called the Short 225 after the power rating of the engine first fitted, was a British two-seat reconnaissance, bombing and torpedo carrying folding-wing seaplane designed by Horace Short of Short Brothers. It ...

, the first British seaplane to take part in a naval battle. Westland would be spun off from Petters in 1935. Ernest Petter served as president of the British Engineers Association from 1923 to 1925, and was knighted in 1925 for his role as a commissioner of the

British Empire Exhibition The British Empire Exhibition was a colonial exhibition held at Wembley Park, London England from 23 April to 1 November 1924 and from 9 May to 31 October 1925. Background In 1920 the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government decide ...

. After visiting relatives in

Comox Valley The Comox Valley is a region on the east coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, that includes the city of Courtenay, the town of Comox, the village of Cumberland, and the unincorporated settlements of Royston, Union Bay, Fann ...

on the east coast of

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, Canada, he decided to build a large manor house (named "The Fort") in the town of Comox, which was completed in 1938. He then lived for a while in Saanich (just outside the provincial capital of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

) before moving back to the UK in 1954. He died at

New Milton New Milton is a market town and civil parish in the New Forest District, New Forest district, in southwest Hampshire, England. To the north is in the New Forest and to the south the coast at Barton-on-Sea. The town is equidistant between Lymi ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

later that year at the age of 81. His son William Edward Willoughby 'Teddy' Petter was an aircraft designer. His grandson

Andrew Petter Andrew J. Petter (born 1953) is a former academic and provincial politician in British Columbia, Canada. He represented the Electoral district (Canada), electoral district of Saanich South in the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 19 ...

represented the

electoral district An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

Saanich South Saanich South is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada. It was created by 1990 legislation dividing the previous two-member district of Saanich and the Islands which came into effect for the 1 ...

in the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia The Legislative Assembly of British Columbia () is the deliberative assembly of the Legislature of British Columbia, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The other component of the Legislature is the lieutenant governor of British Columbi ...

from 1991 to 2001 and served in several cabinet posts during that time, including as

Attorney General of British Columbia The attorney general of British Columbia (AG) oversees the Ministry of Attorney General, a provincial government department responsible for the oversight of the justice system, within the province of British Columbia, Canada. The attorney gener ...

Political career

Petter twice fought Bristol North: in 1918 as a

National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...

candidate and in 1923 as a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

, both times coming third. As part of his political candidacy, Petter published an essay titled 'The Disease Of Unemployment And The Cure'. He fought the 1931 Westminster St George's by-election as an Independent Conservative opposed to

Stanley Baldwin Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley (3 August 186714 December 1947), was a British statesman and Conservative politician who was prominent in the political leadership of the United Kingdom between the world wars. He was prime ministe ...

's leadership of the Conservative Party. Though he claimed to be free of party and running at the request of the electors, he was strongly backed by the Beaverbrook and Rothermere papers, including the ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...

'' and ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

''. He was defeated by the official Conservative,

Duff Cooper Alfred Duff Cooper, 1st Viscount Norwich, (22 February 1890 – 1 January 1954), known as Duff Cooper, was a British Conservative Party politician and diplomat who was also a military and political historian and writer. First elected to Parl ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petter, Ernest 1873 births 1954 deaths People from Yeovil People educated at Mount Radford School Knights Bachelor Conservative Party (UK) parliamentary candidates English industrialists