Sir Robert Inglis


1881 - 1962

Railway engineer and administrator. Born at Tantah (Peebles) in the Scottish Borders, Inglis was educated at Bonnington Park Academy in the town and then at the University of Edinburgh, where he read mathematics and engineering. He joined the North British Railway Company in 1900 and was clearly exceptional, as he rose quickly to become Resident Engineer for the Lothians and then Chief Assistant Engineer for Scotland by 1909. He became Assistant Engineer, then Engineer in charge of the Scottish Area (1936) and then of the Southern Area (1937) for the amalgamated London and North Eastern Railway Company. He became their Divisional General Manager in 1943. After the Second World War Inglis was appointed Chief Transport Officer for the British Occupation Zone in Germany and advised on the running of the railways. He also advised on railways in India, South Africa and Rhodesia. From 1949, he chaired a committee examining the feasibility of electrifying the suburban railway system around Glasgow which led to the Inglis Report (1951). He also served as Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Dunbartonshire.

Inglis was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1912 and knighted in 1947. He died in Helensburgh.


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