The full detail of John Augustin’s death was not yet understood, but with this
sad event, Paterson was obviously prepared—on compassionate grounds—for
Robert to postpone, or maybe even cancel, his visit to the ‘States’. But in the
event, the trip went ahead and on 20 October 1943 Robert left for North
America by sea, at a time when German U-boats had been largely withdrawn
from the Atlantic
23 and the Bismarck’s sister ship the Tirpitz put out of action
from an attack by British ‘midget’ submarines at her base in northern
Norway. Jesty left earlier by air and was already in the USA. Certainly,
travelling by sea was now relatively safe, and for obvious reasons air travel may
not have been appealing to Robert. But a sea journey took about ten days and
he was to be away from Emily for almost two months at a time when her
emotions must still have been very raw. But this was war, and as a senior staff
member a national duty had to be discharged, and just as the opening of
Droitwich helped Robert to normalize his life after the death of Peter Walter,
this duty probably allowed him the same opportunity. While Robert was
away, the heavy obligation of attending to their son’s affairs fell to Emily.
After all, Robert may neither have reached the States nor returned safely, and
these duties have to be discharged in order to draw a line in life. John
Augustin died just a few days before his 32nd birthday, intestate and a
bachelor but, unlike his brother, old enough to have accumulated an ‘estate’.
Because of Robert’s absence, ‘Letters of Administration’ were granted by the
Principal Probate Registry in the name of Emily Le Rossignol
56 on 15
November 1943, she being ‘one of the persons entitled to share in the estate
of the … said intestate’. Their son’s gross estate amounted to £832-17s-10d.
By Friday 10 December Robert had returned to the UK and ‘rang up’ to
let everyone know he would be ‘in’ the following Monday. A few days earlier
Jesty had given a talk on his experiences with CRTs, Paterson noting on 08
December that;
He showed the flag well and did credit to his Lab. and country. His
reception there showing clearly what friends we have in the USA ….
The Monday saw Robert return to the Laboratories, walking straight into a
fairly severe ‘flu’ epidemic that had laid low 15–20% of staff. On Wednesday
afternoon a meeting of the CVD group was ‘enlivened’ as Robert delivered an
account of American and Canadian expertise with magnetrons. He reported
that he had the warmest reception everywhere—particularly from the
Schenectady (New York) folk under Coolidge whom he had first met on his
honeymoon in 1910 (Chap. 10)—but he brought back an observation that
their manpower per valve and their general wastage was higher than at
17 The GEC Laboratories 1939–1949
439
sad event, Paterson was obviously prepared—on compassionate grounds—for
Robert to postpone, or maybe even cancel, his visit to the ‘States’. But in the
event, the trip went ahead and on 20 October 1943 Robert left for North
America by sea, at a time when German U-boats had been largely withdrawn
from the Atlantic
23 and the Bismarck’s sister ship the Tirpitz put out of action
from an attack by British ‘midget’ submarines at her base in northern
Norway. Jesty left earlier by air and was already in the USA. Certainly,
travelling by sea was now relatively safe, and for obvious reasons air travel may
not have been appealing to Robert. But a sea journey took about ten days and
he was to be away from Emily for almost two months at a time when her
emotions must still have been very raw. But this was war, and as a senior staff
member a national duty had to be discharged, and just as the opening of
Droitwich helped Robert to normalize his life after the death of Peter Walter,
this duty probably allowed him the same opportunity. While Robert was
away, the heavy obligation of attending to their son’s affairs fell to Emily.
After all, Robert may neither have reached the States nor returned safely, and
these duties have to be discharged in order to draw a line in life. John
Augustin died just a few days before his 32nd birthday, intestate and a
bachelor but, unlike his brother, old enough to have accumulated an ‘estate’.
Because of Robert’s absence, ‘Letters of Administration’ were granted by the
Principal Probate Registry in the name of Emily Le Rossignol
56 on 15
November 1943, she being ‘one of the persons entitled to share in the estate
of the … said intestate’. Their son’s gross estate amounted to £832-17s-10d.
By Friday 10 December Robert had returned to the UK and ‘rang up’ to
let everyone know he would be ‘in’ the following Monday. A few days earlier
Jesty had given a talk on his experiences with CRTs, Paterson noting on 08
December that;
He showed the flag well and did credit to his Lab. and country. His
reception there showing clearly what friends we have in the USA ….
The Monday saw Robert return to the Laboratories, walking straight into a
fairly severe ‘flu’ epidemic that had laid low 15–20% of staff. On Wednesday
afternoon a meeting of the CVD group was ‘enlivened’ as Robert delivered an
account of American and Canadian expertise with magnetrons. He reported
that he had the warmest reception everywhere—particularly from the
Schenectady (New York) folk under Coolidge whom he had first met on his
honeymoon in 1910 (Chap. 10)—but he brought back an observation that
their manpower per valve and their general wastage was higher than at
17 The GEC Laboratories 1939–1949
439