Henry Oakley

Who was Henry Oakley?

Sir Henry Oakley, was a British railway administrator. He spent most of his working life with the Great Northern Railway, joining in 1849. He was chief clerk in the Company Secretary's office until taking over as Secretary in 1858. He became General Manager of the company in 1870.

He proved adept at the politics and negotiations required in railway management, and had taken on an additional role as Honorary Secretary of the Railway Companies' Association by 1873. He retained these extra duties until the Association was restructured on a more permanent basis in 1900. His national role was a factor in his receiving a knighthood in 1891.

Oakley was elected to the GNR board in 1897 and retired as General Manager in 1898. In June 1900, a C1 class locomotive was named in his honour by the company; after its withdrawal from service in 1937 it was preserved, and survives at the National Railway Museum. After leaving the GNR he became Chairman of the Central London Railway, one of the new tube railways.

Oakley died on 8 February 1912 at his London home aged 88.