Derek Austin

Master's Profile

Derek was born in Tonbridge Road, Whitley in 1948. His father had also been a Freeman, and had attended the first public meetings that led to the formation of the Guild in 1946.

During the blitz, Dereks parents were bombed out of Coventry, and his elder brother was born in Northampton. Back in Coventry, and Derek went to Whitley and Ravensdale primary schools and then Caludon Castle, before being apprenticed to the Avro Whitworth Division of Hawker Siddeley Aviation as an Aeronautical Engineer.

A year later the firm closed its Baginton works, and he transferred to the Hawker Siddeley missile works at Whitley. Here good academic results at the Butts Technical College led to a degree course at the then Lanchester College, before yet another factory closure led to Dunlop Aerospace in Holbrooks.

Graduating from the Lanchester Polytechnic in 1970 as a Mechanical Engineer, the Guild Master at his Freedom ceremony remarked you have been around a bit then!

After working in the Aviation Technical Department as a Stressman on a variety of aircraft projects including BA146, Tornado, Concorde and Harrier, he moved to Rolls-Royce at Ansty in 1975 to the Development Department. Here he worked mainly on the development of the Industrial RB211 and Marine Tyne gas turbines, before moving to the Reliability Group on risk analysis and modelling.

Achieving Chartered Engineer status it is not surprising his recreational interests tended to engineering, being on the committee of the MG Car Club for 20 years in such roles as organising Production Car Trials and Stage Commander on the RAC Rallys, besides building one of the few Coventry registered Lotus Elan Sprint sportscars.

With his partner Eileen he also enjoys ballroom dancing, and is active in the Oddfellows, which this year celebrates its 200th anniversary as a Friendly Society.
Joining the Guild in 2000 he was co-opted onto the Court in 2003 as Guild contact for the Freemen of England & Wales Association, representing the Coventry Court at national meetings in Durham, Cardiff, Chester, Lincoln, Leicester, Hale, and Stafford. He also progressed through Guild Searcher and Senior Warden roles, before election to Deputy Master in 2009.

He joined the FEW Association in 2003, and became Warden for the South Midlands in 2005, which includes the Leicester and Northampton Guilds, and the Court Leets of Alcester, Warwick, and Henley in Arden.

Dereks view is that whilst the built heritage is fairly well looked after by the National Trust and English Heritage, living heritage such as the Freemen is not so well supported.

He would like to encourage more interguild activity, such as the recent visit to the Northampton Freemen and their Guildhall

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