Walter Worboys

Sir Walter John Worboys (22 February 1900 – 17 March 1969), was an Australian-born British businessman.

Equivalent pre and post Worboys road signs

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  pre-Worboys sign
• 
  post-Worboys sign

He was born in Perth, Western Australia, and educated at Scotch College and the University of Western Australia. Elected a Rhodes Scholar in 1922, he gained his D.Phil. after a further period of study at Lincoln College, Oxford. His first job was as a research chemist at Brunner Mond & Co. From there he moved to ICI, eventually reaching the rank of director.

In 1947 he joined the Council of Industrial Design, a body set up by the Board of Trade in 1944. He was chairman of the council from 1953 until 1960, during which time he set up the Design Centre, a permanent exhibition of the council’s work. The establishment of the Design Centre proved to be a turning point in the history of the council, which until that time had attracted more critics than friends.

In 1961 he was appointed to chair a committee to bring in a new era of modern road signage. The committee reported in 1963, advocating a total overhaul of the style of British road signs, introducing a new style that has lasted until the present day. The report recommended the pictorial design found on many European road signs, along with a British-designed font that was to become known as the Transport font.

Worboys died on 17 March 1969.