Papers of Alexander Caldwell Hutchinson

Scope and Content

Hutchinson was primarily a gas turbine engineer at WH Allen, Sons and Company. He served as Chairman of the East Midlands Branch of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. This collection covers both his personal and professional life.

The professional papers cover: gears: patents; noise; walking machine; turbines; thermodynamics papers; pump testing; motoring; metric system; and engineering training papers.

Administrative / Biographical History

Hutchinson was born 8th March 1905 in Bannu, an army hill station near Poona, where his father was a Major in the Indian Army. He moved to Bedford as a baby, and was educated at Bedford School. In 1922 he won a pupilship at WH Allen. He completed a BSc from the University of London whilst working full time. Hutchinson spent his whole career at WH Allen. He joined the Institution of Mechanical Engineers as a Graduate in 1931, becoming a Member (now Fellow) in 1947. In 1935 he was head of the sound research department, and by the end of the Second World War he was in charge of all turbine design work at the company. In 1945 he married Geraldine Anderson, who he met in Austria. They had two step sons and lived in Haynes. By 1955 he was group manager, technical services and solely responsible for the design of the pump test house in Biddenham. He retired in March 1970, but kept busy with his garden and study of the mathematics behind the metric system. Hutchinson passed away on the 8th Dec 1995.

Access Information

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Other Finding Aids

Archivist's Note

Compiled by Karyn French, Archivist, Mar 2018.

Related Material

Other items relating to Hutchinson are held at the Bedfordshire Archives and Records Service (ref: Z90Z Papers of Alexander C Hutchinson).