Jump to content

Frank Pick

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by DavidCane (talk | contribs) at 13:00, 4 May 2011 (expand/edit lead section). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Frank Pick LLB Hon. RIBA (23 November 1878 – 7 November 1941) was a British transport administator. From 1928 to 1933, he was managing director of the Underground Group and was chief executive officer and vice-chairman of the London Passenger Transport Board from its creation in 1933 until 1940.

He steered the development of the London Underground's corporate identity by commissioning eye-catching commercial art, graphic design and modern architecture, establishing a highly recognisable brand. Pick's interest in design extended beyond his own organisation and he was a founding member and later served as President of the Design and Industries Association. He was also the first chairman of the Council for Art and Industry.

Early life

Frank Pick was born on 23 November 1878 at Spalding, Lincolnshire. He was the first child of draper Francis Pick and and his wife Fanny Pick (née Clark). After attending St Peter's School in York on a scholarship, he was articled to a local solicitor, George Crombie.[1][2] He qualified in 1902 and completed a law degree at the University of London in 1903.[1] In 1902, Pick began working for the North Eastern Railway, eventually becoming assistant to the company's general manager, Sir George Gibb.[1] In 1904, Pick married Mabel Mary Caroline Woodhouse. The couple had no children.[1]

London Underground

A map titled "London Underground Railways" showing each of the underground railway lines in a different colour with stations marked as blobs. Faint background detail shows the River Thames, roads and non-underground lines.
The first Underground branded map from 1908, showing the UERL's lines and those of the other tube companies and the Metropolitan Railway.

In 1906, Gibb was appointed managing director of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL). Pick also moved to the UERL to continue working for Gibb.[1] The UERL controlled the Metropolitan District Railway and, during 1906 and 1907, opened three deep-level tube lines – the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway, the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway and the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway.[3]

The UERL had financial problems. Ticket prices were low and passenger numbers were significantly below the pre-opening estimates.[note 1] The lower than expected passenger numbers were partly due to competition between the UERL's lines and those of the other tube and sub-surface railway companies, and the spread of electric trams and motor buses, replacing slower, horse-drawn road transport, took a large number of passengers away from the trains.[5]

By 1908, Pick had become publicity officer responsible for marketing and it was at this time that Pick, working with the company's general manager Albert Stanley, began the development of the strong corporate identity and visual style for which the London Underground would later become famous, including the introduction of the "UNDERGROUND" brand.[6]

One of Pick's first poster commissions from 1908,[7] extolling the benefits of living in Golders Green, which the Underground had recently reached.

In 1909, Pick became traffic development officer and he became commercial manager in 1912.[1] Albert Stanley replaced Gibb as managing director in 1910.[8] During 1912 and 1913, the UERL increased its control over transport in London through the purchase of other tube railway, bus and tram companies.[note 2] One of Pick's responsibilities was to increase passenger levels and he saw that the best way to achieve this was to encourage the use of the company's services outside peak hours. He began to commission posters promoting the recreational use of the Underground to reach the countryside around London or attractions within the city.[11][12][note 3] To coordinate with the Underground lines, he developed the group's bus routes.[1]

Pick introduced a common advertising policy; improving the appearance of stations by standardising poster sizes, limiting the number used and controlling their positioning.[13][14] Pick described the process: "after many fumbling experiments I arrived at some notion of how poster advertising ought to be. Everyone seemed quite pleased and I got a reputation that really sprang out of nothing."[12]

To make the Underground Group's posters and signage more distinctive he commissioned calligrapher and typographer Edward Johnston to design a clear new typeface.[12][15] Johnston's sans serif "Underground" typeface, (now known as Johnston) was first used in 1916 and was so successful that, with minor modifications in recent years, it is still in use today.[16] In 1918, Pick commissioned Johnston again to redesign the Underground roundel or bullseye device and the form used today is based on that developed by Johnston and first used in 1919.[12][17] Pick's philosophy on design was that "the test of the goodness of a thing is its fitness for use. If it fails on this first test, no amount of ornamentation or finish will make it any better; it will only make it more expensive, more foolish."[18]

By the early 1920s, Pick's interest in design had expanded from advertising to cover all aspects of the company's activities. In 1921, Pick became joint assistant managing director of the Underground Group.[1] With plans for the extension of the group's City and South London Railway from Clapham Common to Morden developing, he commissioned Charles Holden in 1924 to design the station buildings in a modern style. The designs replaced a set by the UERL's own architect, Stanley Heaps, which Pick had found unsatisfactory.[19]

Sudbury Town station (1931), the first of Charles Holden's new stations on the Piccadilly line.

Pick had first met Holden at the Design and Industries Association of which they were both founding members.[20][21] Over the next sixteen years, they worked closely together on projects across the Underground network including the Underground Group headquarters at 55 Broadway, St. James's (1927–1929) and the modernisation of many central London stations.[19] In 1930, Pick and Holden made a tour of Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden to see the latest developments in modern architecture.[22] The UERL was planning extensions of the Piccadilly line to the west, north-west and north of London, and Pick wanted a new type of station. The designs Pick commissioned from Holden (1931–33) adapted the architectural styles they had seen on the tour and established a new standard for the Underground.[19]

In 1928, Pick became joint managing director of the Underground Group, and when, on 1 July 1933, the group was taken into public ownership to form part of the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB), he became chief executive officer and vice-chairman,[1] on an annual salary of £10,000 (approximately £900,000 in present day terms).[23][24] Albert Stanley (ennobled as Lord Ashfield in 1920) was chairman.

The extensions of the Piccadilly line to Uxbridge, Hounslow and Cockfosters were completed in 1933.[3] On the Metropolitan Railway, Pick and Ashfield instigated a rationalisation of services. The barely used and loss-making Brill and Verney Junction branches beyond Aylesbury were closed in 1935 and 1936.[25] Freight services were reduced and electrification of the remaining steam operated sections of the line was planned.[26] In 1935, the availability of government-backed loans to stimulate the flagging economy allowed Pick and Ashfield to promote system-wide improvements under the New Works Programme for 1935–1940, including the transfer of the Metropolitan line's Stanmore services to the Bakerloo line in 1939, the Northern line's Northern Heights project and extension of the Central line to Ongar and Denham.[27][note 4]

On 18 May 1940, with his health failing, Pick retired from the LPTB at the end of his seven-year appointment with the board.[28][29]

Other activities

Beside his position at the UERL and LPTB, Pick held a number of industrial administrative and advisory positions. In 1917, during the First World War, Pick was appointed to be head of Mines Department's Household Fuel and Lighting Department at the Board of Trade' where Albert Stanley was the President of the Board of Trade.[1] He remained in this position until June 1919.[30] In 1928, he was appointed as a member of the Royal Commission On Police Powers and Procedure.[31] He also served as a member of the London and Home Counties Traffic Advisory Committee and as a member of the Crown Lands Advisory Committee.[2]

Pick was President of the Institute of Transport for 1931/32.[32] He was President of the Design and Industries Association from 1932 to 1934 and the first chairman of the Board of Trade's Council for Art and Industry in 1934.[1]

After leaving the LPTB, Pick visited British ports for the Ministry of Transport to examine ways of speeding up cargo unloading. In August 1940 he was appointed director-general of the Ministry of Information.[1][33] His time at the Ministry of Information was short and unhappy and he left after four months and returned to the Ministry of Transport, where he carried out studies on improvements in the use of Britain's canals and rivers.[1][34] Pick had long had an interest in town planning and in the last year of his life published two pamphlets on post war reconstruction, Britain Must Rebuild and Paths the Peace.[35]

Personality

Biographers have characterised Pick as being "very shy",[1] and "brilliant but lonely".[36] Pick acknowledged that he could be difficult to work with: "I have always kept in mind my own frailties – a short temper. Impatience with fools, quickness rather than thoroughness. I am a bad hand at the gracious word or casual congratulation."[37]

Lord Ashfield considered that Pick possessed "a sterling character and steadfast loyalty", and "an administrative ability which was outstanding", with "a keen analytical mind which was able to seize upon essentials and then drive his way through to his goal, always strengthened by a sure knowledge of the problem and confidence in himself."[38] Charles Holden described Pick's management of meetings: "Here his decisions were those of a benevolent dictator, and the members left the meeting with a clear sense of a task to be performed, difficult, perhaps, and sometimes impossible, as might subsequently prove to be, but usually well worth exploring if only in producing convincing proof of obstacles. Out of these exploratory methods there often emerged new and most interesting solutions, which Pick was quick to appreciate, and to adopt in substitution for his own proposals."[39]

Disliking honours, Pick declined the offer of a knighthood and a peerage.[12] He did accept the Soviet Union's Honorary Badge of Merit for his advice on the construction of the Moscow Metro.[40] He was an honorary member of the Royal Institute of British Architects.[2]

Legacy

Pick had not been well for some years. He died at his home, 15 Wildwood Road, Golders Green, on 7 November 1941.[34] His funeral was held at Golders Green Crematorium on 11 November 1941 and a memorial service was held at St Peter's Church, Eaton Square on 13 November 1941.[41][42]

Working with Lord Ashfield, Pick's impact on London's transport system was considerable. Transport historian Christian Wolmar considers it "almost impossible to exaggerate the high regard in which LT was held during its all too brief heyday, attracting official visitors from around the world eager to learn the lessons of its success and apply them in their own countries." "It represented the apogee of a type of confident public administration ... with a reputation that any state organisation today would envy ... only made possible by the brilliance of its two famous leaders, Ashfield and Pick."[43] Architectural historian Nickolaus Pevsner described Pick as "the greatest patron of the arts whom this century has so far produced in England, and indeed the ideal patron of our age."[44]

Pick's will was probated at £36,433 12s 9d (approximately £2.14 million today).[1][24] In his will he bequeathed a painting, Ely, by Francis Dodd to the Tate Gallery.[45] He is commemorated with a memorial plaque at St Peter's School, York, unveiled in 1953 by Lord Latham,[46] and a blue plaque was erected at his Golders Green home in 1981.[47]

Transport for London and the London Transport Museum maintain archives of Pick's business and personal papers.[48]

Notes and references

Notes
  1. ^ In the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway's first twelve months of operation it carried 20.5 million passengers, less than sixty per cent of the 35 million predicted. The Piccadilly Tube achieved 26 million of a predicted 60 million and the Hampstead Tube managed 25 million of a predicted 50 million. For the MDR, the UERL had predicted an increase to 100 million passengers after electrification, but achieved 55 million.[4]
  2. ^ The UERL's acquisitions included the London General Omnibus Company, the Central London Railway, the City and South London Railway, London United Tramways, Metropolitan Electric Tramways and South Metropolitan Electric Tramways.[9][10]
  3. ^ Amongst the well-known artists that produced designs for the Underground were Edward McKnight Kauffer, Paul Nash, Graham Sutherland and Man Ray.[12]
  4. ^ Much of the works were interrupted by World War II. After the War, changed priorities, funding shortages and the creation of London's Metropolitan Green Belt led to much of the Northern line expansion plan being cancelled and delays in completing other plans.
References
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Elliot & Robbins 2008.
  2. ^ a b c Who Was Who 2007.
  3. ^ a b Rose 1999.
  4. ^ Wolmar 2005, p. 191.
  5. ^ Wolmar 2005, p. 197.
  6. ^ Wolmar 2005, p. 199.
  7. ^ Wolmar 2005, p. 271.
  8. ^ Barker 2004.
  9. ^ Wolmar 2005, pp. 204–05.
  10. ^ "Obituary – Lord Ashfield, Reorganizer of London Transport" (Subscription required). The Times. No. 51221. 5 November 1948. p. 7. Retrieved 11 April 2011.
  11. ^ Wolmar 2005, pp. 271–72.
  12. ^ a b c d e f "Frank Pick". Design Museum. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  13. ^ Karol 2007, p. 269.
  14. ^ "Frank Pick". Exploring 20th Century London. Renaissance London/MLA. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  15. ^ Wolmar 2005, p. 272.
  16. ^ "A full alphabet of Johnston wood letter types". Exploring 20th Century London. Renaissance London/MLA. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  17. ^ "Standard layout of the "Registered Design" version of the Johnston Underground roundel". Exploring 20th Century London. Renaissance London/MLA. Retrieved 28 April 2011.
  18. ^ Pick, quoted in Wolmar 2005, p. 274.
  19. ^ a b c Orsini 2010.
  20. ^ Day & Reed 2008, p. 96.
  21. ^ Powers 2007.
  22. ^ Day & Reed 2008, p. 99.
  23. ^ "London Passenger Transport Board – answers". Hansard. 278. 22 May 1933. Retrieved 28 April 2011. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  24. ^ a b UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  25. ^ Day & Reed 2008, p. 120.
  26. ^ Jones 1974, p. 56.
  27. ^ Day & Reed 2008, p. 118.
  28. ^ Karol 2007, p. 378.
  29. ^ "Mr Frank Pick to Retire" (Subscription required). The Times. No. 48583. 6 April 1940. p. 8. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  30. ^ "Coal Control Officials' Resignation – Mines Department Reorganized" (Subscription required). The Times. No. 42141. 2 July 1919. p. 14. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  31. ^ "No. 33417". The London Gazette. 31 August 1928.
  32. ^ "Institute of Transport" (Subscription required). The Times. No. 45943. 2 October 1931. p. 6. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  33. ^ "The Ministry of Information – Mr F. Pick Appointed Director-General" (Subscription required). The Times. No. 48689. 8 August 1940. p. 4. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  34. ^ a b "Obituary – Mr Frank Pick" (Subscription required). The Times. No. 49078. 8 November 1941. p. 4. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  35. ^ "Mr Frank Piok – Appreciations" (Subscription required). The Times. No. 49081. 12 November 1941. p. 7. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  36. ^ Karol 2007, p. 264.
  37. ^ Pick, letter to Anthony Bull (1939), quoted in Karol 2007, p. 267.
  38. ^ "Mr Frank Pick – The Coordination of London's Traffic" (Subscription required). The Times. No. 49079. 10 November 1941. p. 6. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  39. ^ Holden 1941, p. 10.
  40. ^ Karol 2007, p. 259.
  41. ^ "Deaths" (Subscription required). The Times. No. 49079. 10 November 1941. p. 1. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  42. ^ "Memorial Services – Mr Frank Pick" (Subscription required). The Times. No. 49083. 14 November 1941. p. 7. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  43. ^ Wolmar 2005, p. 255.
  44. ^ Pevnser 1968, p. 209.
  45. ^ "Ely 1926". Tate Collection. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  46. ^ "Memorial to Frank Pick – Unveiling by Lord Latham" (Subscription required). The Times. No. 52167. 24 November 1953. p. 4. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  47. ^ "Pick, Frank (1878–1941}". Blue Plaques. English Heritage. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  48. ^ "Frank Pick Collection list" (PDF). London Transport Museum. Retrieved 5 April 2011.
Bibliography

Further reading

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frank_Pick&oldid=427401233"