IWM Collections

Mervyn Joseph Pius O'Gorman. He was the son of Edmund A O'Gorman of Harrogate. Mervyn was born in Ireland, then educated at Downside before going to University College Dublin, and from there in 1891 to the City and Guilds Central Institution in London to study Electrical Engineering He worked extensively in the electrical cabling industry - on projects with the Fowler Waring Cabling Company in Ostend, Grenoble and Paris as well as on the installation of electrical supplies in Britain. He was recruited into the 'aircraft' industry when on the Board of the glass manufacturers Pilkingtons, by R B Haldane, the Secretary of State for War, and appointed Superintendent of the Royal Balloon Factory at Farnborough in 1909 where airships were being constructed. Before the outbreak of war, from 1909-1913, under Mervyn O'Gorman's superintendence serious 'heavier than air' experimentation to develop 'military aircraft' was conducted - and, amongst other pioneering engineers, he brought Geoffrey de Haviland to the factory. Aircraft were designed in two broad types - 'pushers' with rear mounted propellors (FE 1), and 'tractors' with forward mounted propellors (SE 1 and BE1). In 1913, O'Gorman was made a Commander of the Order of the Bath, CB. In 1915 the catastrophic losses of ponderous and frequently unarmed British BE2c aircraft on the Western Front, outperformed and outflown by German Fokker Eindecker E1, resulted in a Parliamentary enquiry. What became known as The Air Enquiry published its findings in June 1916 and Mervyn O'Gorman, a man of principle, resigned from the Royal Aircraft Factory. He continued to act as a consultant engineer to the Director-General of Military Aviation for the rest of the war. In 1919 Lieutenant Colonel Mervyn O'Gorman held his commission in the Royal Flying Corps. After the war O'Gorman was Chairman of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Chairman of the Air Accident Investigation Committee, and of the Civil Air Transport Committee. He also worked with the League of Nations Air Transportation Committee. A keen automobile enthusiast, as Vice-Chairman of the Royal Automobile Club he proposed a handbook of motoring rules which was later adopted by the government and first published in 1931 as The Highway Code. Mervyn O'Gorman was also interested in the development of colour photography. He died on 16th March 1958 at his home at 21 Embankment Gardens, Chelsea, London, aged 76.

Hello Just thought I'd let you know that one of our curators, Colin Harding, has selected this photograph as his February Flickr Favourite on our blog. - Emma

National Probate Calendar shows that he died on 16th March 1958 at 21 Embankment Gardens, Chelsea. Estate valued at £163,224. The 1911 census shows him at this address aged 39 and described as Superintendent HM Balloon Factory & Consulting Engineer. He had been married for 13 years to Frances Catherine O'Gorman (aged 57) and they had no children. National Probate Calendar shows his wife's name as Florence Catharine. She predeceased him in 1931.

Help piece together the Life Stories of more than 8 million men and women who made a contribution during the First World War at www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/

Did O'Gorman learn to fly?

Lieutenant Charles Otway Alexander, born 1 January 1888 in Newark, Nottinghamshire, England. If taken during World War 1, this photo will not be past the summer of 1916, when Alexander was promoted to Lieutenant Commander. He eventually reached the rank of Rear-Admiral on 10 January 1939. Alexander died on 13 April, 1970, aged 82.

HMS Constance was a C-class light cruiser, launched in 1915: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Constance_(1915)

The Internet Archive and National Library of Scotland have digitised the Navy List of July 1918; this includes a Herbert C. Apperly, with the rank of Surgeon (p. 6): digital.nls.uk/british-military-lists/pageturner.cfm?id=9... The British Medical Journal of 24 July 1915 (PDF) lists a H.C. Apperly as having been approved in examinations at the Second College (Anatomy and Physiology) by the Conjoint Board in England (p.163). The Calendar of the Royal College of Surgeons, August 1921 lists a Herbert Claude Apperly of Chandos Street as a Member (p. 172): archive.org/details/calendar1921roya The British Medical Journal of 22 May 1954 (PDF) records under deaths (p. 1221): Apperly. - In February, 1954, Herbert Claude Apperly, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., L.D.S., of 37. Crossways, Sutton, Surrey, and 92, Harley Street, London, W., aged 59.

The evidence from genealogical records available on the Internet (e..g. the Ennever family tree) suggests that Apperly practised as a dental surgeon. There is also a brief mention of a H. C. Apperly as a dental surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital in a resumé of a 2010 conference presentation by Stanley Gelbier (PDF). The final paper appears to have been published in Dental History as "Great Ormond Street Hospital, its dental surgeons (1856-1946) and the Cartwright family" (PubMed entry), but I haven't been able to track that down as yet. The Ennever family tree cited above states that Herbert Claude Apperly was born in Hampstead in 1894, the son of Herbert Apperly (also a Dental Surgeon) and Florence (Edmunds); then married to Kathleen Jean Forbes Morris on the 8 April 1926. Interestingly, the National Portrait Gallery catalogue lists two portraits of "Herbert Apperly (died 1932)," there described as consulting dental surgeon to Elizabeth Garnett Anderson Hospital. This (I think) would have been H. C. Apperly's father.

On the 1911 census the family were recorded at North Bar Millway, Reigate, Surrey. Head of the household was Herbert Apperly, (aged 50 and a Dental Surgeon from Rodborough Stroud, Gloucestershire) and his wife of 24 years, Florence, (aged 54 and from Bunbury, Oxfordshire). Still living with them are:- Phyllis Walton....................aged 22............born Hampstead, London Florence Enid....................aged 19...........born Hampstead, London........Student Sybil May...........................aged 14............born Redhill, Surrey John Kenneth Gordon......aged 13............born Redhill, Surrey The family have two live in servants. Herbert Claude, (aged 16 and born Hampstead), was recorded at a boarding school at Monkton Combe, Bath, Somerset. Note that John's age on the 1911 census doesn't really tie up with him being born in 1894. A check of the passengers lists on outbound ships from the UK does indeed include a John Apperly, who sailed from Southampton for Wellington, New Zealand in 1924. His year of birth however is 1897 - which would tie in with the likely birth year for the individual on the census. Herbert Claude's promotion to Temporary Surgeon , effective 22nd January 1918, was gazetted on the 19th February 1918. www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/30533/pages/2214

Sadly, Herbert Claude Apperly's body was found at Walton Heath, near Dorking Road, Walton on the Hill, Banstead on April 11, 1954. His death certificate states that he died from an overdose of barbituric acid and that the cause of death was by suicide whilst of unsound mind. He had last been seen alive on Feb 28, 1954