Sir Frank Gill KCMG OBE by Robert W Stimpson

Sir Frank Gill KCMG OBE: The unique story of a Manx telecommunications pioneer

Frank Gill… one of the best known and highly respected telephone engineers outside the United States. — The Telephone Engineer and Manager, New York 1919

…Congratulations to the Institution of Electrical Engineers on their selection of Mr. Frank Gill as their President …Those who know Mr. Gill’s immense capacity for work will rest content in the knowledge that the standing of the Institution will have been greatly improved before his term of office expires… — The General Post Office (GPO) 1922 Frank Gill worked to set the foundations for the BBC at a time when others claimed “…a thousand wireless telephones in London would cause ethereal chaos!”

Frank Gill’s diplomacy chairing a meeting of radio manufacturers was described as “… a dramatic confrontation of points of view and a debate about drafting which would have done justice to a committee of the League of Nations.” — from The Birth of Broadcasting by Asa Briggs, 1961

“…In the telephone we have the most perfect means of communication of which we know, immediate and perfect human speech with all its tones and inflections and the ability by interchange of conversation to remove misunderstandings… we shall be making a definite step towards reducing the international jealousies and fears and increasing the good-will without which there cannot be peace on earth.” — Frank Gill, IEE Presidential Speech November 1922

“Mr Gill is today recognised as probably the highest authority on telephone engineering, both by the British Post Office and by telephone men throughout the world, and distinguished honours have been conferred upon him by his fellow-engineers.” — Isle of Man Examiner 1935

“No matter what country Mr Gill had visited, he had left it the richer in the means of human intercommunication; this was a life work of which he could be justly proud”. Of Frank’s work on international telephony – “the most constructive work ever undertaken in connection with international standardisation and organisation of the European telephone network” — William Morrison MP, Postmaster General 1941 recognising Sir Frank’s award of the KCMG knighthood.