Peter Lloyd

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(26 June 1907 – 11 April 2003), was a mountaineer and engineer, a President of the

Alpine Club Alpine clubs are typically large social clubs that revolve around climbing, hiking, and other outdoor activities. Many alpine clubs also take on aspects typically reserved for local sport associations, providing education and training courses, se ...

Early life

Lloyd was born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

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 ...

, the son of an economics lecturer. He was educated at

Gresham's School Gresham's School is a private school (English fee-charging boarding and day school) in Holt, Norfolk, England, one of the top thirty International Baccalaureate schools in England. The school was founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham as a f ...

, Holt, from 1921 to 1924, and then read

Engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

. While there, he was president of the university's Mountaineering Club.

Climber

He continued with his climbing and became an experienced alpinist in the late 1920s and early 1930s. In 1936, he was chosen for the British–American Himalayan Expedition

Nanda Devi Nanda Devi is the second-highest mountain in India, after Kangchenjunga, and the highest located entirely within the country. (Kangchenjunga is on the border of India and Nepal.) Nanda Devi is the 23rd-highest peak in the world and ranked 74t ...

, led by

Bill Tilman Major (United Kingdom), Major Harold William Tilman, Commander of the British Empire, CBE, Distinguished Service Order, DSO, Military Cross, MC and Bar, (14 February 1898 – November 1977) was an England, English mountaineering, mountaineer ...

, who called him "first-rate on rock and ice".Obituary of Peter Lloyd
at ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' online (accessed 4 May 2008) In 1938, Tilman assembled a team for an attempt on Mount Everest, and again he chose Lloyd. This expedition reached a height of 27,200 feet. Lloyd used his engineering skills to work on oxygen equipment for high-altitude climbing, favouring a system which used ordinary air as well as cylinder oxygen. He thus contributed greatly to John Hunt's successful ascent of

Mount Everest Mount Everest (), known locally as Sagarmatha in Nepal and Qomolangma in Tibet, is Earth's highest mountain above sea level. It lies in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas and marks part of the China–Nepal border at it ...

in 1953, commenting on the oxygen question - "I have a lot of sympathy with the sentimental objection to its use, and would rather see the mountain climbed without it than with; but, on the other hand, I would rather see the mountain climbed with it than not climbed at all." Lloyd was also a member of the Joint Himalayan Committee, which organised and financed the expedition.John Hunt, ''The Ascent of Everest'', Hodder and Stoughton, 1953, p. 37 He was President of the

from 1977 to 1980 and delivered a moving oration at the memorial service in 1978 of

, who was lost at sea in the south Atlantic at the age of 79.

Career

After Cambridge, Lloyd worked as an engineer on furnace design for the Gas Light and Coke Company in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. At the outbreak of

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 ...

in 1939, Lloyd found he was prevented from active military service by having a reserved occupation, and he joined the

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), bef ...

, working on defences against low-flying aircraft. He then joined Hayne Constant's team working to develop gas turbine engines. In 1943, they produced a prototype jet engine before merging with

Sir Frank Whittle Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, (1 June 1907 – 8 August 1996) was an English engineer, inventor and Royal Air Force (RAF) air officer. He is credited with co-creating the turbojet engine. A patent was submitted by Maxime Guillaume in 1921 fo ...

's Power Jets group. After the War, Lloyd became head of the combustion department of the National Gas Turbine Establishment, and in 1950 he was appointed as its deputy director. From 1961 until 1969, he was the director-general of the

Ministry of Aviation The Ministry of Aviation was a department of the United Kingdom government established in 1959. Its responsibilities included the regulation of civil aviation and the supply of military aircraft, which it took on from the Ministry of Supply. ...

's Research and Development division, later heading the UK defence research and supply staff in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. At the Ministry of Aviation, he was closely involved in the design of the

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

Spey and Tay engines, and the

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

Pegasus Pegasus (; ) is a winged horse in Greek mythology, usually depicted as a white stallion. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. Pegasus was the brother of Chrysaor, both born from Medusa's blood w ...

engine which powers the vertical take-off

BAE Sea Harrier The British Aerospace Sea Harrier is a naval short take-off and vertical landing/ vertical take-off and landing jet fighter, reconnaissance and attack aircraft. It is the second member of the Harrier family developed. It first entered serv ...

Retirement

After his retirement, Lloyd emigrated to

, settling in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, where he died in

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...

Family

Lloyd was married twice and had one son and one daughter from his first marriage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lloyd, Peter Lloyd, Peter (mountaineer) Lloyd, Peter (mountaineer) Lloyd, Peter (mountaineer) Lloyd, Peter (mountaineer) Lloyd, Peter(mountaineer) Lloyd, Peter (mountaineer) Presidents of the Alpine Club (UK) Sportspeople from Sheffield