Felix Pole

Sir Felix John Clewett Pole (1 February 1877 – 15 January 1956) was a British railway manager and industrialist.

He was general manager of the Great Western Railway from 1921 to 1929, before becoming executive chairman of Associated Electrical Industries, a post he held until 1945.

[1] Born in Little Bedwyn in Wiltshire,[2] Pole joined the Great Western Railway as a telegraph lad at Swindon, aged 14, in 1891.

By 1945 Pole was reported to be completely blind, and was thought too old to lead the company into the post-war electronics boom, and was succeeded by Captain Oliver Lyttelton.

[citation needed] In April 1954 a GWR 4073 Class locomotive, 5066, was renamed Sir Felix Pole in his honour.