19 Facts About Mervyn O'Gorman

Mervyn Joseph Pius O'Gorman was a British electrical and aircraft engineer.

Later in life, Mervyn readopted the O' prefix to his surname, which had been dropped by his Irish great-grandfather Thomas O'Gorman after he moved to England in 1747.

Mervyn O'Gorman was educated at St Edmund's College, Ware, at Downside School and at University College, Dublin, where he read classics and science.

In 1891 Mervyn O'Gorman went to London to study electrical engineering at the City and Guilds Central Institution.

Mervyn O'Gorman was elected an associate member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1893, and obtained his City and Guilds diploma in 1894, his marks being amongst the best in his year.

Mervyn O'Gorman was rapidly promoted to chief engineer, and reorganised the company's factory near London before being sent to Paris in 1895 to set up a new cable factory for a French company; in 1896 he became Fowler Waring's general manager.

Mervyn O'Gorman was a keen motorist, being an active member of the Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland, and he published a book on the subject, Mervyn O'Gorman's Motoring Pocket Book, in 1904; he wrote articles on motoring for The Times.

In October 1909 Mervyn O'Gorman was appointed as the first civilian Superintendent of the Balloon Factory.

When Mervyn O'Gorman took over the Balloon Factory, official interest was still focussed on lighter-than-air flight.

The new system, under which Mervyn O'Gorman reported directly to the Master-General of the Ordnance at the War Office, was intended to bypass military traditionalists, many of whom failed to see any military value in aircraft of any description.

Mervyn O'Gorman devised a system of categorising aircraft according to their layout.

Mervyn O'Gorman, now holding the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Royal Flying Corps, remained as a consulting engineer to the Director-General of Military Aeronautics from 1916 to 1919.

Mervyn O'Gorman was vice-chairman of the Royal Automobile Club between 1928 and 1931, and vice-president in 1952.

In December 1934 Mervyn O'Gorman presented a case for funding urgent research into measuring and recording traffic flows, traffic density and accidents to the British Science Guild so that measures could be taken to eliminate road accidents.

Mervyn O'Gorman was a frequent contributor to the letters page of The Times, mainly on motoring issues.

In 1897, at San Remo in Italy, Mervyn O'Gorman married Florence Catherine Rasch who was 17 years his senior.

Mervyn O'Gorman died at his home, 21 Embankment Gardens, Chelsea, on 16 March 1958.

Mervyn O'Gorman had artistic interests and was known as a pioneer of colour photography using the autochrome process, and his photographs feature in exhibitions of early colour photography.

Mervyn O'Gorman was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in George V's Birthday Honours list of 1913 whilst he was Superintendent of the Royal Aircraft Factory.