Clement Hindley

Who was Clement Hindley?

Clement Daniel Maggs Hindley was a British civil engineer. Hindley spent much of his life working in Bengal for the East Indian Railway Company eventually becoming their general manager. He also served as India's first Chief Commissioner of Railways bringing about the nationalisation of the East Indian and Great Indian Peninsular railways, the reorganisation of the Railway Department and establishing the Railway Staff College at Dehradun. His work for the railways was recognised with a knighthood and an appointment as Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire and as a Commander of the Order of Leopold by the Belgian government.

Hindley returned to Britain in 1928 becoming the first chairman of the Racecourse Betting Control Board, as well as a member of the Advisory Council for Scientific and Industrial Research and the board of the National Physical Laboratory. He also served as chairman of the first research committee of the Institution of Civil Engineers and later as the institution's president. Hindley worked extensively with the Ministry of Works and the Air Raid Precautions service during the Second World War, particularly on civil defence and reconstruction matters.