Samuel Instone
| Samuel Instone | |
|---|---|
| Born |
1878 Gravesend, England |
| Died | 1937[1] |
| Occupation | Business |
| Spouse(s) | Lady Alice Maud Liebman Instone |
Sir Samuel Instone (1878 – 1937) was a shipping and aviation entrepreneur and the founder of the Instone Air Line.
Personal history
Born in Gravesend, Kent, he came to Cardiff in Wales in 1908 to work for a shipping company as a manager. With his brother, Theodore Instone, he went into business as a coal factor in 1908, and in 1914 bought the ship, Collivaud from Morels. After World War I, the brothers owned ten vessels shipping coal from the South Wales valleys. It was during this period that Samuel diversified into coal mining with the acquisition of the Bedwas colliery.[2] In 1919 Instone Air Line was set up by Samuel along with another brother Alfred, and started an air route from Cardiff to Paris.[3] Due to the depression of the 1920s Samuel saw his shipping interests wane, and by 1925 the last of his ships were sold.
Instone was constantly at the front of commercial and technological trends within the aviation business. On 19 August 1920, Sir Samuel Instone had a telephone conversation from his home in London to a passenger on a flight destined for Paris. This call to a Vickers aeroplane is thought to be the first telephone call to an inflight aircraft. He also introduced uniforms for his flight crews, the first non-military air service to do so.[4] In 1921 Samuel was knighted,[5] and as Sir Samuel Instone he represented the Chamber of Shipping at Air Conferences in England and the International Chamber of Commerce at the League of Nations, Geneva.[6]
Social enterprises
In 1922, Frank L. Barnard, chief pilot of Instone Air Line won the first King's Cup Race. Sir Instone took the trophy with him on a visit to Bedwas Colliery, and it was allowed to be displayed in a local shop's window.[7][8]
As an act of public service, Samuel Instone and his brother Theodore once offered to hire Harry Grindell Matthews in order to keep his reported death ray in the United Kingdom.[9]
References
- ↑ Finding Our Fathers: A Guidebook to Jewish Genealogy By Dan Rottenberg pp249 ISBN 978-0-8063-1151-7
- ↑ Bedwas Navigation Colliery - A Brief History
- ↑ Instone Air Line
- ↑ Instone Air
- ↑ Central Synagogue - London, UK
- ↑ 1933 Colliery Year Book and Coal Trades Directory
- ↑ Concise History
- ↑ Rugby In Wales -Bedwas RFC
- ↑ Grindell 'Death Ray' Matthews | Profiles | Features | Fortean Times UK