Jack Bowthorpe CBE (1905 - 1978) was the
founder of Spirent plc, one of the United Kingdom
's largest telecommunications
businesses.
Career
Borrowing £2,000 from a relative, Jack Bowthorpe started his own
business in 1936 trading as
Goodlife Electrical Supplies.
He operated his business from a garage cutting up electrical wiring
into standard lengths and selling it to the aircraft industry. He
was one of the first people to realise that the purpose of
different cables needed to be identified by the colour of their
sleevings. He initially employed one person, Ray Parsons, to assist
him and together they built the Company into one of the UK's
largest electrical businesses.
He was awarded the
CBE
for services to British Industry in 1978. He died later that
year.
References
- Live wire in search of a bright spark
Industrial Management & Data Systems, 1972
- Management of Change: an example from the
electronics industry Industrial & Commercial Training,
1974
- Hellermann Tyton
- Spirent: Annual Report 2002, Page 5
Wikis
Map
Search