Ernest Hives, 1st Baron Hives

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Ernest Walter Hives

Ernest Walter Hives, 1st Baron Hives CH MBE (21 April 1886-24 April 1965), was the one-time head of the Rolls-Royce Aero Engine division.

Hives was born in Reading, Berkshire. During the Second World War he was closely involved with the design of the Merlin engine as well as numerous later Rolls-Royce jet engines. He began his working life in a local garage. However, in 1903 he got a job working at C. S. Rolls' car company, after fixing Charles Rolls' car.

[edit] Achievements

After becoming a chief test driver in 1908, he lead the RR team in the Austrian Alpine Trial in 1913. During the First World War the company designed its first aero-engine, the Eagle, and Hives developed it successfully, by 1916 he was Head of the Experimental Department. In 1919 the Eagle powered the twin-engined Vickers Vimy bomber on the first direct flight across the Atlantic. Other notable engines were later developed under Hives’ lead. Of these the Kestrel was the most important, leading to the ‘R’ series, which powered the Supermarine S.6 seaplanes that won the Schneider Trophy in 1929 and 1931 for Rolls-Royce, and most importantly the famous Merlin engine.

In 1936 he became the general works manager of the factory and a year later was elected to the board. In 1937, thinking war would soon be inevitable, he prepared the firm for a massive production increase in Merlin engines by splitting facilities between engineering and production. As the Merlin powered Hurricanes and Spitfires, this was a decision of vital strategic significance when war did come. It was thanks to Hives that a total of a hundred and sixty thousand Merlins were produced by 1945. In 1941 Hives quickly decided ‘to go all out for the gas turbine’, ensuring the company’s leading role in developing jet engines for civil and military aviation. He became managing director in 1946 and chairman of the Rolls-Royce from 1950 till 1956.

Hives was made a Companion of Honour in 1943 and in 1950 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Hives, of Duffield in the County of Derby. He died in April 1965, aged 79, and was succeeded in the barony by his son John.