death_place death_date birth_place nationality birth_date article_title name occupation
pancras , london , england 8 february 1912 aged 88 marylebone , london , england united kingdom 1823 henry oakley
 henry oakley railway administrator
henry oakley

sir henry oakley -lrb- 1823 -- 1912 -rrb- , was a british railway administrator .
he spent most of his working life with the great northern railway -lrb- gnr -rrb- , 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 .
