ROLAND EDMUND DANGERFIELD
Page 43
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
WE regret to record the death of Roland Edmund Dangerfield at his home, Hoe Farm in Surrey, in the early hours of Friday, June 19. He was 67. His passing will be mourned by his many friends throughout the world of publishing and printing and the industries with which, through the various Temple Press journals, he had a life-long association.
He succeeded his father, Edmund Dangerfield, as head of Temple Press in 1933. He had been elected to the bbard in 1918 whilst on active service in France with the Royal Flying Corps, which he had joined after leaving Harrow School, and the whole of his business life, until his retirement as chairman in November, 1962, was devoted to the publishing activities of the company which his father had founded in 1891 in Bouverie Street with the publication of Cycling.
The subsequent growth of the Company, which came to include Motor, Motor Cycling, The Commercial Motor, Motor Boat and Yachting, The Aeroplane and a wide group of technical publications, brought him into contact with many industries during their vital formative years. He was a close friend of many in the world of motoring, the motor industry, aviation and other fields of transport. Their respect for him was reinforced by an aspect„of his character, namely an insistence on editorial integrity, which had a profound influence upon his relationship with them and with his editorial staffs. _ Intensely interested in the activities of the journals, and the policies they promoted, he nonetheless left them free to represent an independent viewpoint. This independence occasionally brought him into conflict with leaders of industry to whom particular policies might be unpalatable. At such moments Roland Dangerfield proved himself to be a true custodian of freedom of expression. with a strong sense of justice and fair play, attributes .which did much for the reputation of his journals
and which earned for him great respect and affection from his colleagues.
It was as a result of this that Temple Press editors were able in their separate ways to campaign on behalf of their industries in many noteworthy causes e.:ith great success.To him, the principle of editorial integrity was the very bedrock of his publishing philosophy.
Ile was chairman of the Council of the Trade and Technical Press of the Periodical Proprietors Association from 1938 to 1950 and during this period he served on many important Government committees. In 1959 he was elected president of the Association for . three years. Elected a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Coachmakers and Coach Harness Makers in 1931, he became Master in 1953. As a member of the Council of the Royal Society of Arts he did much to foster the interests of the arts and sciences.
He will be remembered by those who were close to him for his judgment, his sense of fair play,his humour and his good friendship.
He married, in 1929, Margot Page and they had two sons and a daughter. To Mrs. Dangerfield and her family we offer our deepest sympathy.