OLIVER HUTCHINSON
Inventor & Entrepreneur
1891 – 1944
When you switch on your T.V.
to-night reflect on this: it was an Ulsterman who had the foresight
and courage to back John Logie Baird, the inventor of television
and assisted him in the formation of the company that gave the
world television.
Oliver Hutchinson, a son of the
late Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Corbett Hutchinson, of Combermere House.
Hillsborough (County Down), he was born and educated in Belfast,
and fresh from the city's (Belfast) technical school, set out for
Glasgow and his first job as a motor engineering apprentice at the
Argyll Motor Works. He worked at the same bench as another
apprentice, a Scottish minister's son named John Logie Baird. After
their apprenticeship they parted company but were to later meet
again during the Great War then Hutchinson and Baird, both
soldiers, discussed their ambitions while serving in the trenches.
Baird spoke of his dream of inventing of a system to relaying
pictures through the air, while Hutchinson was fascinated and
intrigued by the idea.
The end of hostilities pair
parted again. Hutchinson returned to his base, now in London, and
prospered in various commercial enterprises. A few years later he
was walking down the Strand when he noticed the familiar figure of
Baird. The pair went for a cup of tea and they talked of Baird’s
dream to send pictures through the air. Only now, it was no longer
a dream, Baird had mastered the principle, but he was all but
broke. He had told his story to others, but there was no-one who
understood, no-one who believed him and his dream of television was
all but over.
Within a few weeks Hutchinson
had provide Baird the required backing and given him the courage to
go on. With the support and funding Baird purchase equipment and
set up research studios to finalise his development. Oliver
Hutchinson was no idle, rich, sleeping partner backing a great man
with an inventive ideal. Hutchinson could speak Baird's own
language and could help him with his problems. They worked together
until that memorable day in 1926 when the first demonstration of
television was given to the world and it was the Hillsborough man's
face that was televised first to the world.
The
Cache
This is a
traditional cache placed in the centre of Hillsborough, it could
not be placed at the birth place of Hutchinson due to the proximity
of another cache in the series, but I hope you will take the
opportunity to take a walk through the village and visit Combermere
House and the other caches in the area. I have given a suggested
parking location, but there is on street parking closer to the
cache, but illegal parking is an issue and Traffic Wardens
routinely patrol the area , so you have been warned. This cache has
been given a difficulty rating of 2 because, for a "cache and dash"
the hiding place of the cache is not immediately obvious and the
area is extremely exposed.
The cache is
a small magnetic keysafe, no room for trades or travelers, so
please bring a pen as I cannot guarantee the pencil will be
sharp.
More in the
Series
1.
Sir Hamilton Harty
2. Professor Frank Pantridge
3. Oliver Hutchinson
4. Harry Ferguson