[1] Sir William Stanier was born in Swindon, where his father worked for the Great Western Railway (GWR) as William Dean's Chief Clerk, and educated at Swindon High School and also, for a single year, at Wycliffe College.

He was charged with introducing modern and more powerful locomotive designs, using his knowledge gained with the GWR at Swindon.

[2] Stanier built many successful designs for the LMS, particularly the "Black 5" mixed traffic 4-6-0 and the 8F 2-8-0 freight locomotive.

He was knighted on 9 February 1943 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society[3][4] on his retirement, only the third locomotive engineer after Edward Bury and Robert Stephenson to receive that honour.

[6] William Stanier, with the backing of Sir Josiah Stamp, chairman of the company, reversed the small engine policy, which the LMS had inherited from the Midland Railway, with beneficial results.