Page, Sir Archibald

(1875–1949)

 C. W. Marshall
 , revised
 https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/35349
 Published in print: 23 September 2004
 Published online: 23 September 2004

Page, Sir Archibald (1875–1949), engineer and electricity supply manager, was born at Alloa,
Scotland, on 5 September 1875, the only son of John Page, wool merchant, and his second
wife, Helen Ann McKillop. His general education was gained at Alloa School and Dollar
Academy. After two years of technical training at the Heriot-Watt College, Edinburgh, he served
a full apprenticeship in mechanical engineering and supplemented it by a period of electrical
engineering with Mavor and Coulson, of Glasgow, who were among the British pioneers in the
construction of electrical plant. Meanwhile he added to his theoretical knowledge by studies at
the Glasgow and West of Scotland (later Royal) Technical College.

Recognizing the potentialities of electricity supply, he obtained, in 1899, a position as a

mechanic in the Port Dundas generating station of the Glasgow corporation electricity
department, and ultimately became deputy city electrical engineer. This early progress was due
entirely to his sterling qualities as a man and as a practical engineer. He improved the efficiency
of the existing generating stations and interconnected them; he installed new plant of, for those
times, great capacity; and he planned the first major municipal power station at Dalmarnock. At
about this time he became fully imbued with the principles of electricity supply development
advocated by C. H. Merz, and he was thereafter invariably guided by them. He examined with
meticulous care every plan for which he became responsible, and almost invariably suggested
improvements. This faculty for constructive criticism had been developed in his purely
engineering days, when he had to discuss details of plant with the most eminent manufacturing
designers. In 1906 Page married Anne, daughter of John Forsyth, a merchant, of Clackmannan;
they had one son and three daughters.
In 1917 Page joined the Clyde Valley Electric Power Company as deputy manager. Subsequently
he became general manager. In that capacity he continued his policy of development on the basis
of interconnection, and acquired a wider experience, in a more difficult territory, of the problems
of transmission and distribution. When the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1919, was passed, he was an
obvious choice as an electricity commissioner, but in 1925 he was called from this administrative
appointment to the more specifically constructive post of director and general manager of
the County of London Electric Supply Corporation. His period of office was marked by the
construction of the Barking generating station (to become one of the largest thermo-electric
stations in Europe) and of the associated high-voltage transmission system.

The formation of the Central Electricity Board in 1927 brought Page the final opportunity of his
career. With Sir Andrew Rae Duncan as chairman, Page, as chief engineer and general manager,
directed the construction of the ‘grid’ and the standardization of frequency of the national
system. The enterprise was conducted with promptness and efficiency and Spartan economy,
both in construction and in operation. The first scheme being that for central
Scotland, Page's earlier experience was particularly valuable. The efficiency of the project was
 largely due to the personal example of Page, who was knighted in 1930 for his share in the work.
In 1935 he succeeded Duncan as chairman of the board.

Page's career was planned from first to last, and he accomplished, so far as any individual can, all
that he set out to do. He read omnivorously documents and publications essential to his duties
and relating to electrical engineering; but his general reading was largely in the book of life.
International and foreign electrical developments interested him to a minor degree, mainly
enabling him to assess the relative efficiency of Britain and other countries. He was very British
in his outlook, and his main business characteristics were objectivity, reliability, thoroughness,
and an untiring energy. He was kind and helpful, and had an ironical sense of humour, which he
exercised on rare occasions to great effect. Almost his only recreations were gardening and an
occasional visit to a Rugby international. He loved Scotland, and spent each of his annual
holidays in the Highlands.

In 1943 Page was awarded the Faraday medal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, of which

he became a member in 1909, and an honorary member in 1939, serving as president in 1927. He
retired from the Central Electricity Board in 1944, although he continued to take a close interest
in the industry and its personnel, until he died, worn out by excessive toil, on 7 March 1949, at
his home, Haworth, 1 West Hill, Sanderstead, Surrey. His wife survived him.

Sources

 L. Hannah, Electricity before nationalisation: a study in the development of the

electricity supply industry in Britain to 1948 (1979)

Note 1: Picture is in the National Portrait gallery

Note 2: A screw steamer was built in 1950 and named after him

Note 3: IEE made a film of him 1942