William Henry Pilkington, Baron Pilkington (29 April 1905 – 23 December 1983) was an English glass manufacturer and president of the

Federation of British Industries The Federation of British Industries (FBI) was an employers' association in the United Kingdom. History Founded by the Midlands industrialist Dudley Docker in 1916 as the United British Industries' Association, but renamed later that same year, ...

. He is remembered politically as chairman of the Pilkington Committee that produced the controversial Pilkington Report of 1962. He was also Chancellor of

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...

from 1966 to 1980.

Early life and education

Pilkington was born in St Helens, Lancashire, the eldest son of Richard Austin Pilkington (1871-1951), JP, of Eccleston Grange, St Helens, a director of the family glass-manufacturing business,

Pilkington Pilkington is a glass-manufacturing company which is based in Lathom, Lancashire, England. It includes several legal entities in the UK, and is a subsidiary of Japanese company Nippon Sheet Glass (NSG). It was formerly an independent company ...

Brothers Ltd, and his wife, Hope (1876-1947), daughter of the politician and judge Herbert Cozens-Hardy, 1st Baron Cozens-Hardy. His younger brother, Lawrence, would join him as a director of the family business; the third brother was the biologist and writer Roger Pilkington. His sister

Margaret Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Iranian languages, Old Iranian. It has been an English language, English name since the 11th century, and remained popular thro ...

was a Girl Guide leader, awarded an MBE and a Silver Fish Award for her work with the

Guide International Service Girl Guides (or Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) are organisations within the Scout Movement originally and largely still for girls and women only. The Girl Guides began in 1910 with the formation of Girlguiding, The ...

. The Pilkington family was Congregationalist. He was educated at

Rugby School Rugby School is a Public school (United Kingdom), private boarding school for pupils aged 13–18, located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire in England. Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independ ...

and

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

Pilkington Brothers Ltd

Pilkington joined the board of the family business, Pilkington Brothers Ltd, in 1934 and served as chairman from 1949 to 1973. This glass manufacturing company became the lone survivor of twenty-four British glass manufacturers from the 19th century. While other companies died from competition, the Pilkington company advanced its techniques, especially in

safety glass Safety glass is glass with additional safety features that make it less likely to break, or less likely to pose a threat when broken. Common designs include toughened glass (also known as tempered glass), laminated glass, and wire mesh glass (als ...

and glass sheets, using the company's proprietary

float glass Float glass is a sheet of glass made by floating molten glass on a bed of molten metal of a low melting point, typically tin, although lead was used for the process in the past. This method gives the sheet uniform thickness and a very flat surfa ...

process. In 1967 the company controlled 85% of the glass-making business in the United Kingdom and exported its products to over 100 countries.

Pilkington Report

The Pilkington Report concluded that the British public were not being well-served by commercial television due to what it regarded as its American-influenced programming (such as westerns). It further concluded that although the British public had not been explicitly asked whether they wanted commercial radio, there was no evidence to support the contention that they wanted it. The unintended result of this conclusion was the creation of offshore commercial

pirate radio Pirate radio is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license, whether an invalid license or no license at all. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are rec ...

in 1964. It also commended the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

for the high quality of its television programming and recommended that the franchise for the-then third television channel should be granted to the BBC (which opened as

BBC 2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matter, incorporating genres such as comedy, drama and d ...

in 1964), rather than to a commercial operator.

Personal life

In 1930, Pilkington married Rosamond Margaret, daughter of

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) was a specialist corps in the British Army which provided medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. On 15 November 2024, the corps was amalgamated with the Royal Army De ...

Colonel Henry Davis Rowan of Rathmore,

Greystones Greystones () is a coastal town and seaside resort in County Wicklow, Ireland. It lies on Ireland's east coast, south of Bray and south of Dublin city centre and has a population of 22,009, according to the 2022 census. The town is border ...

County Wicklow County Wicklow ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The last of the traditional 32 counties, having been formed as late as 1606 in Ireland, 1606, it is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces ...

, Ireland. Rosamond died in 1953, having had with her husband a son and two daughters. He subsequently married Mavis Joy Doreen, daughter of master reed-maker Gilbert Caffrey of Woodleigh, Lostock Park, Bolton, and former wife of Dr John Hesketh Wilding. Pilkington was known for his 'warm-hearted personality'; when a young couple moved in nearby, they decided to grow roses but lacked the experience in pruning. The wife was acquainted with Pilkington's gardener at Windle Hall, and made a phone call; the then-Lady Pilkington answered, telling her 'I'll pass the message on, but Harry prunes all ours'- within the hour, Pilkington arrived at the couple's house by bicycle, equipped with pruning shears. Even as a Governor of the Bank of England, Pilkington cycled around London, 'to the delight and consternation of those who knew him.'

Arms

Honours

Knighted 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 1953 New Years Honours List, Pilkington was created a

Life Peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

on 18 January 1968 in the 1968 New Years Honours List, taking the title Baron Pilkington, of St Helens in the

County Palatine of Lancaster Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

. He was awarded the

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

Doctor of Science A Doctor of Science (; most commonly abbreviated DSc or ScD) is a science doctorate awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. Africa Algeria and Morocco In Algeria, Morocco, Libya and Tunisia, all universities accredited by the s ...

(D.Sc) by

in 1966.

References

External links

National Portrait Gallery, London
– Sir Harry sat for six portraits

''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

''. 15 December 1967.
''New Yorker'' magazine commenting upon the Pilkington Report
July 1962.
Speech by Sir Harry to the Empire Club of Canada
- 1 December 1955, Toronto, Canada. 1905 births 1983 deaths Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge Chancellors of Loughborough University Glass makers People educated at Rugby School Harry Life peers Knights Bachelor Life peers created by Elizabeth II {{UK-business-bio-1900s-stub