Sir Eustace Missenden

Sir Eustace Missenden was the Director of the Southern Railway.

Early life

Missenden was the son of a station master and left school at an early age (which according to Bonavia Railways South East 1993, 3, 182) gave him a chip on his shoulder.

The Southern Railway years

He was a competent railwayman, experienced more on the operating than the commercial side of operations, and was loyal to the established working practices of the Southern Railway. Missenden was also a good organiser and knew how to delegate, whilst looking after the interests of those subordinates who had served him well, the key example being Oliver Bulleid. He firmly declined to work over-long hours and was careful, perhaps even fussy, over his health. However, Missenden lacked both the warm, extrovert personality of his predecessor at Waterloo, Gilbert Szlumper, and the intellectual and managerial distinction of Sir Herbert Walker, a predecessor he admired greatly.

The Railway Executive years

Missenden accepted the Chairmanship of the Railway Executive, though with the private intention of "retiring before too long". This was primarily because he did not move easily in Government circles, being suspicious of both politicians and civil servants. He found himself out of his depth in attempting to coordinate a team of disparate Railway Executive Members who were not responsible to him in the way that railway departmental officers had been responsible to a General Manager. The difficulties came from the fact that the Members represented the legacy of the "Big Four" railway companies in Britain, with each having their own agenda even when part of a nationalised industry. Antipathy increased when the Southern Railway, the smallest of Britain's pre-nationalised railways, had provided the Chairman, and as such, the Railway executive ceased to be an effective body for policy-making.