Christopher Hinton, Baron Hinton of Bankside

Christopher Hinton, Baron Hinton of Bankside (12 May 190122 June 1983) was a British nuclear engineer, and supervisor of the construction of Calder Hall, the first large-scale nuclear power station in the West.

Career

Hinton was born on 12 May 1901 at Tisbury, Wiltshire. He attended school in Chippenham where his father was a schoolmaster, and left school at 16 to become an engineering apprentice with the Great Western Railway at Swindon. At 22 he was awarded the William Henry Allen scholarship of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a first class honours degree.

Hinton then worked for Brunner Mond, later part of ICI, where he became Chief Engineer at the age of 29. At Brunner Mond he met Lillian Boyer (d. 1973) whom he married in 1931.

In 1946, Hinton was appointed Deputy Controller of Production, Atomic Energy, and in 1954 when the Atomic Energy Authority was formed, was appointed Member for Engineering and Production as managing director of 'Industrial Group Risley' He was appointed to the Order of Merit in 1976.

{| class="wikitable"

|+ The Hinton Heavies

! !! Power station !! County !! Output (MW) !!

| 01 || West Burton || Nottinghamshire || 2,000 MW ||

| 02 || Ferrybridge C || West Yorkshire || 2,000 MW ||

| 03 || Eggborough || North Yorkshire || 2,000 MW ||

| 04 || Kingsnorth || Kent || 2,000 MW || Oil fired

| 05 || Fawley || Hampshire || 2,000 MW || Oil fired

| 06 || Aberthaw B || South Wales || 1,500 MW ||

| 07 || Ironbridge B || Shropshire || 1,000 MW ||

| 08 || Fiddler's Ferry || Cheshire || 2,000 MW ||

| 09 || Ratcliffe || Nottinghamshire || 2,000 MW ||

| 10 || Cottam || Nottinghamshire || 2,000 MW ||

| 11 || Pembroke || South West Wales || 2,000 MW || Oil fired

| 12 || Rugeley B || Staffordshire || 1,000 MW ||

| 13 || Didcot A || Oxfordshire || 2,000 MW ||

| 14 || Ince B || Cheshire || 1,000 MW || Oil Fired

The 500 MW standard unit design was subsequently slightly scaled up to 660 MW, using the same main and reheat steam conditions. These larger units were constructed from 1967 onwards at Drax, Grain and Littlebrook power stations. Similar 660 MW turbogenerators were also installed at all of Britain's AGR nuclear power stations, albeit with radically different steam-raising plant.

The 660 MW units were the largest generating plant, and the last pure steam-cycle plant, ever constructed by the CEGB before its break-up and privatisation in the 1990s.

The Hinton Cup and Hinton Trophy

During his time at the Central Electricity Generating Board (CEGB) he commissioned the Hinton Cup, a piece of silverware that would be presented annually to the power station that displayed good housekeeping in the workplace. The citation to go with the cup reads 'This cup is presented to the Power Station judged to have reached the highest attainment in economy and efficiency of operation and maintenance with particular reference to attractiveness and good housekeeping'.

The cup was first won by Meaford A power station in 1959 and was last won by West Burton Power Station prior to the divestment of the CEGB. The Hinton Trophy was the equivalent award for the best Transmission District. Because of the miners' strike there was no competition in 1984–85. To commemorate the thirty years of awarding the cup and trophy a presentation plate was manufactured by Gladstone Pottery Museum in Stoke-on-Trent.

thumb|Hinton Cup

thumb|30 year commemorative plate

{| border="0"

|+ The Hinton Cup & Trophy For Good Housekeeping

! !! Power Station !! Year !! Transmission District

!01 !! Meaford !! 1959–1960

!02 !! Stella North !! 1960–1961 !! Luton

!03 !! South Denes !! 1961–1962 !! Bristol

!04 !! Darlington !! 1962–1963 !! Durham

!05 !! Marchwood !! 1963–1964 !! Nottingham

!06 !! Rheidol !! 1964–1965 !! Bushbury

!07 !! Huddersfield !! 1965–1966 !! Swansea

!08 !! Poole !! 1966–1967 !! Taunton

!09 !! Elland !! 1967–1968 !! East Riding

!10 !! West Burton !! 1968–1969 !! Northumberland

!11 !! South Denes !! 1969–1970 !! Leeds

!12 !! Staythorpe !! 1970–1971 !! Poole

!13 !! Thornhill !! 1971–1972 !! Stourport

!14 !! Sizewell A !! 1972–1973 !! Cumbria

!15 !! Willington B !! 1973–1974 !! Rayleigh

!16 !! Trawsfynydd !! 1974–1975 !! Bushbury

!17 !! Ratcliffe-on-Soar !! 1975–1976 !! King's Lynn

!18 !! Oldbury on Severn !! 1976–1977 !! East Cheshire

!19 !! Keadby !! 1977–1978 !! Staythorpe

!20 !! Fawley !! 1978–1979 !! Solent

!21 !! Sizewell !! 1979–1980 !! Taunton

!22 !! Eggborough !! 1980–1981 !! Southern

!23 !! Cottam !! 1981–1982 !! Northwest (Midlands Region)

!24 !! Pembroke !! 1982–1983 !! Northwest (Midlands Region)

!25 !! Drax !! 1983–1984 !! Northwest (Northwest Region)

!26 !! Thorpe Marsh !! 1985–1986 !! Northwest (Midlands Region)

!27 !! Ratcliffe-on-Soar !! 1986–1987 !! Wealdon

!28 !! Rugeley A & B !! 1987–1988 !! Chase

!29 !! West Burton !! 1988–1989 !! Westward

Awards and achievements

Knighted 1951
Fellow of the Royal Society 1954
Fellow of Trinity College, 1957
Honorary Degree (DSc), University of Oxford 1957
Honorary Degree (ScD), University of Cambridge 1960
On 28 January 1965 he was made a life peer as Baron Hinton of Bankside, of Dulwich in the County of London.
President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 1966
Foreign Associate, National Academy of Engineering, 1976
Order of Merit, 1976
Honorary Degree (Doctor of Science), University of Bath, 1966
Chancellor of the University of Bath 1966–80
James Watt International Medal 1973
First President of the Royal Academy of Engineering
DRS Class 37 diesel locomotive 37409 named Lord Hinton at Crewe Gresty Bridge Depot Open Day, 10 July 2010
Lord Hinton bulk carrier ship (completed 1986, broken up 2015)

References

External links

Memorial Tributes, nap.edu; accessed 5 May 2017.
Baron Christopher Hinton papers, aip.org; accessed 5 May 2017.
Profile, raeng.org.uk; accessed 5 May 2017.
Oxford DNB extract, oxforddnb.com; accessed 5 May 2017.
The Papers of Lord Hinton of Bankside, held at Churchill Archives Centre