Robin Inskip, 2nd Viscount Caldecote, was an engineer and industrialist who campaigned tirelessly for the regeneration of British industry, championing innovation and competitive product development. When he became Chair of Investors in Industry (later 3i) he denounced Britain as being in the “third division of the league of industrialised nations”. He wanted to see more engineers on the boards of British companies to enable new product development and he used his presidency of the Fellowship to encourage excellence in engineering. As a member of the House of Lords for over 40 years, he spoke regularly on industry, education and the environment.
He negotiated with the government and Vickers Armstrong to form the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) in 1959, but in 1965 clashed with the government when Secretary of State Dennis Healey cancelled the TSH2 tactical bomber/reconnaissance aircraft that the new company had designed and built. Caldecote warned the government that, unless it supported long-term development, the British aircraft industry would succumb to competition from the US. He was equally critical of the Thatcher government 25 years later, chairing a House of Lords report concluding that Britain’s industrial base was so badly damaged that huge foreign investment would be required to sustain it.
Caldecote believed that businesspeople had an active duty to society and served on countless public bodies, including the General Council of the BBC and the Marie Rose Trust. He chaired many government and industry bodies including the Design Council (1972 to 1980) and the Export Council for Europe. He was also President of the Royal Institute of Naval Architects.
Viscount Caldecote
- 1917 Born 8 October in London
- 1939 Following education at Eton, graduates from King’s College, Cambridge, with a first-class degree in engineering
- 1939 Commissioned in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and serves throughout the Second World War in minesweepers and destroyers, becoming a lieutenant commander
- 1941 Receives the Distinguished Service Cross for his role aboard the destroyer Kingston during the evacuation of the British Army from Greece
- 1947 Succeeds his father, the first Viscount Caldecote, and takes his seat in the House of Lords as a Conservative
- 1949 Returns to the University of Cambridge as an engineering lecturer
- 1960 Becomes Managing Director, English Electric Aviation
- 1961 Appointed Deputy Managing Director of the new British Aircraft Corporation
- 1969 Resigns from English Electric in protest at its merger with GEC
- 1972 Becomes Chair of the Delta Metal Company
- 1976 Appointed Pro-Chancellor, Cranfield Institute of Technology
- 1977 Becomes Chair of Legal and General
- 1980 Becomes Chair of Investors in Industry (now 3i)
- 1981 Appointed President of the Fellowship of Engineering
- 1987 Knighted for services to industry
- 1990 Serves as Chair of the Crown Appointments Committee that recommended Dr George Carey as Archbishop of Canterbury
- 1999 Dies 20 September, aged 81