engineering

Vernon Robertson

Vernon Robertson is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Vernon Robertson rather than just read about it. In short: Vernon Alec Murray Robertson, CBE, MC and bar (29 December 1890 – 12 February 1971) was a British civil engineer in the railway sector. During the First World War he served with the Royal Engineers with distinction, earning the Military Cross twice.

Key takeaways

Vernon Robertson belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Vernon Robertson to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Vernon Robertson from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Vernon Alec Murray Robertson, CBE, MC and bar (29 December 1890 – 12 February 1971) was a British civil engineer in the railway sector. During the First World War he served with the Royal Engineers with distinction, earning the Military Cross twice. Robertson later worked for a number of railway companies before becoming Chief Civil Engineer to the London Passenger Transport Board, Southern Railway and the Southern Region of British Railways. During and after the Second World War he returned to the army and served with, and commanded, the Engineer and Railway Staff Corps. Robertson served as president of the Institution of Civil Engineers for 1949–50.

Early life and First World War Robertson was born in 1890 at Calcutta in India. After studying at Dover College and Crystal Palace School of Practical Engineering, he was articled to D. Gravell between 1909 and 1912 before joining the South Eastern and Chatham Railway. During World War I, he served with London Scottish as a non-commissioned officer before being commissioned in the Royal Engineers as a temporary second lieutenant on 15 October 1915. He served with the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France between 1915 and 1919. Robertson received promotion to the rank of lieutenant on 4 October 1916 and was appointed adjutant on 30 October. He was appointed to the acting rank of captain on 10 November 1916 and by 1 October 1918 was an acting major (at which point he received the temporary rank of captain). Robertson retired from the army on 4 May 1919, being promoted at the same time to the temporary rank of major. During the war Robertson was mentioned twice in dispatches and received the Military Cross and bar. He was awarded the Military Cross on 26 September 1917 for personally visiting, during heavy artillery and gas bombardment, a number of bridges to report upon their condition. He was badly affected by the gas but completed the task and afterwards ensured that supplies were carried up for the repair of the structures. The bar was awarded 8 March 1919 for actions taken 22–25 October 1918. During the Hundred Days Offensive he successfully erected five bridges over a canal and several streams at Nivelle, whilst under German machine gun and artillery fire.

Civilian career After the First World War he held numerous positions in the railway industry, including positions with Great Eastern and London and North Eastern Railways, before becoming Chief Civil Engineer (1938–40) and then Engineer-in-Chief (1940–43) to the London Passenger Transport Board. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1943 Birthday Honours for his contribution to London transport during the Second World War. In 1944 he became Chief Civil Engineer to the Southern Railway Company, and the Southern Region of British Railways post-nationalisation, until his retirement in 1951. Subsequently, he was a partner and then consultant to Sir William Halcrow and Partners until 1964. Robertson had become a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1919, was elected a fellow in 1930 and served as president for the November 1949 to November 1950 session. He was also a fellow and president of the Permanent Way Institution, vice-president of the Institution of Transport, a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Institution of Electrical Engineers, an honorary fellow of the Society of Engineers and an honorary member of the American Railway Engineering Association. Additionally, he was a member and in 1957 president of the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers.

Second World War military service Robertson had been appointed to the Supplementary Reserve as a major on 19 November 1924 and ceased to belong to that unit exactly four years later. His military career was revived on 26 February 1938 when he was appointed a lieutenant-colonel in the Engineer and Railway Staff Corps, a voluntary part-time unit supporting the British Army. He was promoted to colonel on 8 May 1940 and later served as commanding officer of the unit, until 1 January 1956.

References

External links Portraits of Vernon Robertson at the National Portrait Gallery, London

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Vernon Robertson

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Vernon Robertson claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Vernon Robertson before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Vernon Robertson ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Vernon Robertson

In research: Vernon Robertson appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Vernon Robertson in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Vernon Robertson is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1890 births, 1971 deaths, British Army personnel of World War I, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Vernon Robertson outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Vernon Robertson in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Vernon Robertson means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Vernon Robertson out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Vernon Robertson in simple terms?

Why does Vernon Robertson matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Vernon Robertson?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Vernon Robertson.