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George Binney
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George Binney
Sir Frederick George Binney, DSO (23 September 1900, Epsom, Surrey–1972 Jersey) was a noted Arctic explorer. During the Second World War, he led blockade-running missions, including Operation Rubble, to procure supplies of Swedish ball bearings and other steel products for British armament production, for which he was knighted and made a Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve commander.
Frederick George Binney was born at on 23 September 1900 in the village of Great Bookham, Surrey. His father, Reverend Maximilian Frederick Breffit Binney, was the Anglican vicar of St Nicholas Church, Sutton in Lancashire (now Merseyside), but moved to St Mary Magdalene, Richmond, Surrey, in October 1900. Shortly after the move, baby George's mother Emily (née Blinkhorn) died from pneumonia. Along with his older brothers, Binney attended Summerfields School in Oxford before winning a King's Scholarship at Eton College. From there, he gained a scholarship to Merton College, Oxford, where in his second term, he became editor of The Isis Magazine.
Whilst still an undergraduate at Merton College, Oxford, Binney was recruited by Julian Huxley as organizing secretary to the 1921 Oxford University Spitsbergen expedition, subsequently leading both the 1923 Merton College Arctic Expedition, and the 1924 Oxford University Arctic Expedition. He was a pioneer in the use of seaplanes for Arctic survey work and wrote up this experience in his 1925 book With Seaplane and Sledge in the Arctic. On its second flight with Binney as observer, the seaplane's engine failed; he and the pilot were lucky to be rescued from the ice-floes by Norwegian meteorologists. The expedition was the first to traverse Nordaustlandet or North East Land, the second-largest island in the Svalbard archipelago. The Avro 504O seaplane ("The Avro Arctic") used was supplied by A. V. Roe and Co., Ltd. and its 180-h.p. Lynx air-cooled engine provided by Armstrong Siddeley.[citation needed]
He later advised the 1931 expedition of Hans Wilhelmsson Ahlmann to Nordaustlandet and was home secretary to Sandy Glen's 1935 expedition to the same region. He served on the council of the Royal Geographical Society from 1934 to 1953.
Subsequent to these expeditions he worked in the Arctic for the Hudson's Bay Company from 1926 to 1930. During this time he wrote The Eskimo Book of Knowledge (published by the Hudson's Bay Company), a book explaining a rather colonial view of the wider world to the Inuit. During a company restructuring in 1931, Binney's role in the field was terminated, but he declined the offer of an office job in Winnipeg and returned to London. There he was recruited to establish a Central Export Department for United Steel Companies and he trained for nine months at the firm's steel works in Sheffield, Scunthorpe and Workington. He also completed a course at the Dundee School of Economics in 1932.[citation needed] Binney subsequently succeeded in establishing company representation in South America and Asia and made personal visits to Iran and China in the pre-war years.
In December 1939, Binney took up a post as the representative in Sweden of the Iron and Steel Control department of the British Ministry of Supply. He was to assist in the acquisition of steel, machine tools, and most notably roller and ball-bearings for the United Kingdom's armament programme. He had also been briefed by MI6 to report anything which might be of interest.
Following the German invasions of Norway and Denmark in April 1940, navigation of the Skagerrak was closed to Allied shipping by a German blockade. Binney attempted to circumvent this by sending material through Finland, but after the first two shipments, the Germans pressurised the Finns into stopping any further transits, leaving the Skagerrak as the only option.
Binney set about organising a series of blockade-running operations. The first in January 1941, Operation Rubble, used five Norwegian merchant ships that had been laid-up in Sweden, loaded with specialised steel products. Under cover of poor weather and the long hours of winter darkness, all the ships were able to evade German patrols and reach Britain. A second operation launched in March 1942, Operation Performance, involved six more Norwegian ships but was less fortunate; lacking surprise and optimal weather conditions, two ships were forced to return to Sweden, two were sunk and only two reached Britain, carrying 27% of the original cargo.
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George Binney
Sir Frederick George Binney, DSO (23 September 1900, Epsom, Surrey–1972 Jersey) was a noted Arctic explorer. During the Second World War, he led blockade-running missions, including Operation Rubble, to procure supplies of Swedish ball bearings and other steel products for British armament production, for which he was knighted and made a Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve commander.
Frederick George Binney was born at on 23 September 1900 in the village of Great Bookham, Surrey. His father, Reverend Maximilian Frederick Breffit Binney, was the Anglican vicar of St Nicholas Church, Sutton in Lancashire (now Merseyside), but moved to St Mary Magdalene, Richmond, Surrey, in October 1900. Shortly after the move, baby George's mother Emily (née Blinkhorn) died from pneumonia. Along with his older brothers, Binney attended Summerfields School in Oxford before winning a King's Scholarship at Eton College. From there, he gained a scholarship to Merton College, Oxford, where in his second term, he became editor of The Isis Magazine.
Whilst still an undergraduate at Merton College, Oxford, Binney was recruited by Julian Huxley as organizing secretary to the 1921 Oxford University Spitsbergen expedition, subsequently leading both the 1923 Merton College Arctic Expedition, and the 1924 Oxford University Arctic Expedition. He was a pioneer in the use of seaplanes for Arctic survey work and wrote up this experience in his 1925 book With Seaplane and Sledge in the Arctic. On its second flight with Binney as observer, the seaplane's engine failed; he and the pilot were lucky to be rescued from the ice-floes by Norwegian meteorologists. The expedition was the first to traverse Nordaustlandet or North East Land, the second-largest island in the Svalbard archipelago. The Avro 504O seaplane ("The Avro Arctic") used was supplied by A. V. Roe and Co., Ltd. and its 180-h.p. Lynx air-cooled engine provided by Armstrong Siddeley.[citation needed]
He later advised the 1931 expedition of Hans Wilhelmsson Ahlmann to Nordaustlandet and was home secretary to Sandy Glen's 1935 expedition to the same region. He served on the council of the Royal Geographical Society from 1934 to 1953.
Subsequent to these expeditions he worked in the Arctic for the Hudson's Bay Company from 1926 to 1930. During this time he wrote The Eskimo Book of Knowledge (published by the Hudson's Bay Company), a book explaining a rather colonial view of the wider world to the Inuit. During a company restructuring in 1931, Binney's role in the field was terminated, but he declined the offer of an office job in Winnipeg and returned to London. There he was recruited to establish a Central Export Department for United Steel Companies and he trained for nine months at the firm's steel works in Sheffield, Scunthorpe and Workington. He also completed a course at the Dundee School of Economics in 1932.[citation needed] Binney subsequently succeeded in establishing company representation in South America and Asia and made personal visits to Iran and China in the pre-war years.
In December 1939, Binney took up a post as the representative in Sweden of the Iron and Steel Control department of the British Ministry of Supply. He was to assist in the acquisition of steel, machine tools, and most notably roller and ball-bearings for the United Kingdom's armament programme. He had also been briefed by MI6 to report anything which might be of interest.
Following the German invasions of Norway and Denmark in April 1940, navigation of the Skagerrak was closed to Allied shipping by a German blockade. Binney attempted to circumvent this by sending material through Finland, but after the first two shipments, the Germans pressurised the Finns into stopping any further transits, leaving the Skagerrak as the only option.
Binney set about organising a series of blockade-running operations. The first in January 1941, Operation Rubble, used five Norwegian merchant ships that had been laid-up in Sweden, loaded with specialised steel products. Under cover of poor weather and the long hours of winter darkness, all the ships were able to evade German patrols and reach Britain. A second operation launched in March 1942, Operation Performance, involved six more Norwegian ships but was less fortunate; lacking surprise and optimal weather conditions, two ships were forced to return to Sweden, two were sunk and only two reached Britain, carrying 27% of the original cargo.