{{short description|British transport administrator}} {{For|the Scottish rugby player|Alec Valentine}} {{Use British English|date=January 2020}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}} {{Infobox person | image = File:Alec Valentine.jpg | caption = Sir Alexander Valentine in 1964 | name = Sir Alexander Valentine | honorific_suffix = [[OStJ]] | birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1899|12|22}} | birth_place = [[Stockport]], [[Greater Manchester]], England | death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|1977|12|1|1899|12|22}} | death_place = | occupation = Transport administrator | title = Chairman of [[London Transport Executive]]/[[London Transport Board]] | predecessor = Sir [[John Elliot (railway manager)|John Elliot]] | successor = Sir [[Maurice Holmes (barrister)|Maurice Holmes]] | term = 1959–1965 | spouse = | children = }} '''Sir Alexander (Alec) Balmain Bruce Valentine''' {{Postnom|country=GBR|OStJ}} (22 December 1899 – 1 December 1977),<ref name="who_was_who">{{cite web|url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U160529|title=Valentine, Sir Alec (Alexander Balmain Bruce) |date=December 2007|work=[[Who's Who (UK)#Who Was Who|Who Was Who]] (Online edition)|publisher=[[A & C Black]]/[[Oxford University Press]]|access-date=28 July 2009}}</ref> was Chairman of the [[London Transport Executive]] from 1959 to 1963 and Chairman of the [[London Transport Board]] from 1963 to 1965.<ref name="appointed">{{London Gazette |issue=41811 |page=5664 |date=8 September 1959 }}</ref><ref name="appointed_2">{{London Gazette |issue=42840 |page=9155 |date=23 November 1962 }}</ref><ref name="appointed_3">{{London Gazette |issue=43547 |page=411 |date=12 January 1965 }}</ref>
==Family== Valentine was born in [[Stockport]],<ref name="birth">{{cite web|url=http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/districts.pl?r=102368351&d=bmd_1247779949|title=Births Mar 1900|work=FreeBMD|access-date=28 July 2009}}</ref> the son of Mr & Mrs Milward Valentine and grandson of [[Scotland|Scottish]] theologian [[Alexander Balmain Bruce]].<ref name="who_was_who"/> He married Beryl Barter in 1936 and the couple had three children, one son and two daughters.<ref name="who_was_who"/>
==Career== Valentine was educated at [[Highgate School]] and [[Worcester College, Oxford]] before working in the gas industry until 1927.<ref name="who_was_who"/> In 1928, he moved to the [[Underground Group]] where he worked as assistant to its managing director [[Frank Pick]]. After the Underground Group was absorbed into the [[London Passenger Transport Board]] (LPTB) in 1933, he remained with Pick (who became the LPTB's vice-chairman) until 1936. Valentine then held a series of senior management positions within the LPTB including Chief Commercial Officer and Operating Manager (Railways).<ref name="who_was_who"/>
When the LPTB was [[nationalised]] in 1948, Valentine was made a member of the board of the [[London Transport Executive]] (LTE), the LPTB's replacement.<ref name="who_was_who"/> As part of the board, Valentine argued for the abandonment of [[Trams in London]], seeing them as a major cause of [[road congestion]], which would be relieved by the introduction of buses, with the aesthetic benefit of doing away with overhead wires and the noisy operation of trams.<ref name="watkins">{{cite web|last=Watkins|first=Ann E.|title=The Campaign To Save the London Trams 1946-1952|url=http://www.yellins.com/transporthistory/London%20Trams%20Campaign.doc|format=MS Word}}</ref> He was also a member of the [[Greater London Plan|London Plan Working Party]] between 1946 and 1948 which led planning for new transport routes in the capital including the [[Victoria line]] built in the 1960s and 1970s.<ref name="Times">{{cite news|date=5 December 1977|title=Obituaries – Sir Alec Valentine|newspaper=[[The Times]]|issue=60178|page=16|url=http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/401/215/71784387w16/purl=rc1_TTDA_0_CS271548805&dyn=3!xrn_2_0_CS271548805&hst_1?|access-date=28 July 2009}}</ref> He served on the LTE board until 1954 when he moved to the board of the LTE's parent, the [[British Transport Commission]] (BTC).
In 1959, while remaining a member of the BTC board, he returned to the LTE as its chairman and remained in that position until the LTE was abolished and replaced with the [[London Transport Board]] of which he was also chairman until he retired in 1965.<ref name="who_was_who" /><ref name="appointed" /><ref name="appointed_2" /><ref name="appointed_3" />
Valentine was a member of the [[Channel Tunnel]] Study Group from 1957 to 1962 and a director of the Channel Tunnel Company from 1956 to 1969. He was a Fellow of the [[Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport|Chartered Institute of Transport]] and served as its president in 1951–1952 and was President of the [[Design and Industries Association]] in 1963–1964.<ref name="who_was_who"/> He was Colonel commanding the [[Engineer and Railway Staff Corps]] of the [[Royal Engineers]] from 1963 to 1964.<ref name="who_was_who"/>
Valentine was granted a [[Knight Bachelor|knighthood]] in the [[1964 Birthday Honours|Queen's birthday honours list in 1964]].<ref name="knighthood">{{London Gazette |issue=43343 |page=4938 |supp=y |date=13 June 1964 }}</ref>
Valentine was a keen bird-watcher and walker, and, taking his pen-name from a [[Fieldfare|British wild bird]], he wrote articles on country walks as ''Fieldfare'' in the ''[[Evening News (London)|Evening News]]'' during the 1930s. A collection of these was published as ''Tramping Round London'' in 1933.<ref name="who_was_who"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/collections-online/photographs London Transport Museum Photographic Archive] **{{LTM archive|1998-40798|Sir Alexander Valentine, 1962}}
{{s-start}} {{s-bus}} {{s-bef|before=Sir [[John Elliot (railway manager)|John Elliot]]}} {{s-ttl|title=Chairman,<br>[[London Transport Executive]] |years=1959–1963 }} {{s-aft|after=Abolished}} {{s-bef|before=New Position}} {{s-ttl|title=Chairman,<br>[[London Transport Board]] |years=1963–1965 }} {{s-aft|after=[[Maurice Holmes (barrister)|Maurice Holmes]]}} {{s-mil}} {{s-bef|before=Col. [[John Elliot (railway manager)|John Elliot]] }} {{s-ttl|title=Officer Commanding,<br>[[Engineer and Railway Staff Corps]] |years=1963–1964 }} {{s-vac|unknown}} {{s-end}}
{{Heads of public transport in London}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valentine, Alexander}} [[Category:1899 births]] [[Category:1977 deaths]] [[Category:Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford]] [[Category:Engineer and Railway Staff Corps officers]] [[Category:Knights Bachelor]] [[Category:British Army soldiers]] [[Category:People educated at Highgate School]] [[Category:People associated with transport in London]] [[Category:People from Stockport]] [[Category:Military personnel from Manchester]] [[Category:20th-century British Army personnel]] [[Category:Officers of the Order of St John]]