Sir Kenneth George Corfield (27 January 1924 – 11 January 2016) was a British camera engineer and industrialist. Born in Rushall near

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

, Corfield attended the South Staffordshire College of Advanced Technology and worked in management development in ICI's Metals division from 1946 until 1950, when with his brother John he established

K. G. Corfield Ltd K. G. Corfield Ltd was an innovative camera and lens manufacturing company based in Wolverhampton. The company produced high quality cameras and lenses basing many design features on the Leica range of 35mm cameras. One unique design was employed ...

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

. The company first made accessories for photographers, then launched the Periflex camera in 1953; it also imported Exacta Varex and Minox cameras from East Germany. After a majority holding in the company was bought by

Guinness Guinness () is a stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at Guinness Brewery, St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in the 18th century. It is now owned by the British-based Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic bever ...

in the early 1960s, he led the expansion of Parkinson Cowan, a maker of gas meters and gas appliances. In 1966 he moved to American company ITT, becoming managing director of their British subsidiary

Standard Telephones and Cables Standard Telephones and Cables Ltd (later STC public limited company, plc) was a British manufacturer of telephone, telegraph, radio, telecommunications, and related equipment. During its history, STC invented and developed several groundbreakin ...

in 1969 and then executive chairman from 1979. Here he followed an ambitious expansion strategy, including in 1984 the ill-fated acquisition of computer maker ICL, leading to his resignation the following year. Corfield was also involved in developing the Architect camera and, in partnership with Brian Gould, he purchased the Gandolfi company in 1982 to ensure its future. He was the chair of the

Science Museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, Industry (manufacturing), industry and Outline of industrial ...

committee which in 1982 selected

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

as the home for the National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, later the

National Media Museum The National Science and Media Museum (formerly The National Museum of Photography, Film & Television, 1983–2006 and then the National Media Museum, 2006–2017), located in Bradford, West Yorkshire, is part of the national Science Museum ...

. In 1982 he received an Honorary Doctorate from the

University of Bath The University of Bath is a public research university in Bath, England. Bath received its royal charter in 1966 as Bath University of Technology, along with a number of other institutions following the Robbins Report. Like the University ...

. Corfield was knighted in 1980. He died at the age of 91 on 11 January 2016.Sir Kenneth Corfield, the man behind the ‘last successful’ British camera range, dies aged 91
amateurphotographer.co.uk. Accessed 27 January 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corfield, Kenneth 1924 births 2016 deaths Engineers from the West Midlands (county) People from Rushall, West Midlands