Remembering Peter Chapple

21 Mar 2022

BFPA is very sorry to announce the passing of Peter Chapple in February 2022.

Peter Chapple – Eulogy Written by Professor Kevin Edge

Pete’s career began with an engineering apprenticeship with De Havilland Engine Company and a scholarship to the University of Bristol where, in 1960, he obtained a first-class honours degree in Engineering. Whilst there, Pete formed deep and lifelong friendships with fellow engineers and their partners. Subsequently, he was awarded a prestigious scholarship to study for his masters degree at Princeton University in the USA.

Over the next 20 years he built up a breadth of engineering experience through appointments in both industry and academia, including work at:

Rolls Royce, in Bristol;
Norris Design Consultants;
The University of Bath, as a Lecturer in Engineering;
Staffa Products, as Technical Director;
and Commercial Hydraulics in Luxembourg, where he was Engineering Director.

During this period Pete married and whilst in the Bath area his two children were born – Ian in 1968 and in Joanna in 1969: they both remember happy times growing up with their dad and Joanna especially enjoying their regular Saturday swimming sessions.

In 1983, changed personal and professional circumstances brought Pete back to Engineering at the University of Bath where he worked as Course Organiser and Manager at the Fluid Power Centre – with responsibilities for Hydraulic courses for industrialists.

During this time Pete was awarded a PhD degree for research on hydraulic motors whilst also being engaged with work in collaboration with industry and with several professional organisations, including the British Standards Institute, the International Standardization Organisation and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

With engineering his life blood, Pete was not willing to retire at 60 and was successfully appointed part-time Professor at Trondheim University, Norway – a position which he held for 10 years. This appointment entailed travelling backwards and forwards for short stays coupled with the now well-recognised concept of “working from home”. Perhaps he was a pioneer?

During this time, Pete authored a book on hydraulic system design. A second edition followed some 6 years later {which continues to be available on Amazon, by the way!}. He also became very interested in exploiting hydraulic systems in wind turbines and, together with some of his young colleagues, formed a spin-out company which was named “Chapdrive”. Despite considerable progress being made, a lack of continuation funding for the project finally brought his long and varied career to an end, at the age of 74. Pete’s many contributions to his fields of endeavour were celebrated by family and friends travelling to Norway for a retirement party with his colleagues. His work inspiring young engineers was one of his greatest joys.

Still keen to keep active, Pete then became involved with the local University of the Third Age Science and Technology group, helped organise monthly meetings and was a member of the computer group. He also had a love of astronomy and was a member of the Herschel Society.

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Peter Chapple was a great friend and supporter of the BFPA and the fluid power industry. He was appointed as Chairman of BSI Committee MCE18/8 Product Testing on 20 March 1991, and presided over this committee for 26 years, before resigning in November 2017.

Various ex-colleagues and friends from the industry have also paid their tributes to Peter:

“Absolutely sad news, Peter was an outstanding person and contributed greatly to the various BFPA Committees. He was a long-standing member of the Education and Training Committee and added great value to the development of the existing CETOP Competence Based Qualifications. The books he wrote on system design are excellent and will remain on my desk as a reminder of Peter Chapple and his achievements.” Condolences from John R Savage, Director NFPC

“Peter was a gentleman, and had so much experience and knowledge. It was always a pleasure to talk to him, every day really was a school day with him.” Jerry Hughes, Chairman of T&SPC

“Peter was a real gentleman with a real wealth of knowledge in the filed of hydraulics. Very sad news” Phil Keep, MP Filtri UK Ltd

“This is indeed sad news. Peter and I have known each other for over 45 years and developed a deep friendship through the collaborative ventures we had firstly with BHRA, then with Pall. He will be greatly missed.” Mike Day

“I was very sorry to hear about Peter’s passing, he will much missed. With sincere condolences “ Stan Saunders Chairman BFPA Technical Committee TC9