Farewell to a titan of British engineering

Sir David McMurtry, the man behind one of the UK’s most successful, yet too often under-the-radar engineering companies, has died.

Along with fellow Rolls-Royce engineer John Deer, Sir David co-founded Renishaw in 1973 to commercialise a 3D touch-trigger probe for co-ordinate measuring machines. David had invented it to solve measurement problems faced in the manufacture of the Olympus engines that powered the mighty Concorde supersonic aircraft.

A brilliant engineer, Sir David worked for Rolls-Royce in Bristol for 17 years, where he became Deputy Chief Designer and its youngest ever Assistant Chief of Engine Design. He was responsible for 47 patents at Rolls-Royce and went on to be named on more than 200 patents for Renishaw innovations.

Under David's guidance, Renishaw revolutionised the development of co-ordinate measuring machines, shopfloor metrology and process control, among many other innovations.

The company he co-founded now employs more than 5,000 people in 36 countries and reported record revenues of more than £691 million last September.

I met Sir David a number of times. While he was a private man who avoided publicity (difficult for his comms team), he was an absolute delight to interview face to face and despite building a global manufacturing business he was always an innovator and entrepreneur at heart.

Even when he stepped away from the day-to-day role of Chairman only earlier this year, he was often at Renishaw – a small, slight man permanently fascinated with new ideas and approaches wherever they came from. 

A few years ago, a campaign I co-founded called Rock the Cotswolds, ran a major event called Innovation Rocks at Renishaw’s Wootton-under-Edge headquarters to showcase the amazing companies based in the county.

We had a full house – mostly I think because all the innovators we had invited to pitch their ideas to investors were so keen to meet the legendary Sir David. Even in his 80s he retained his fascination with new ideas.

In 2016 he set up McMurtry Automotive with Thomas Yates, who moved from Mercedes where he was optimising Formula One power units for Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

On setting up McMurtry Automotive, Sir David said: “Pushing boundaries using novel engineering has driven me throughout life. Applying this to my passion in the automotive sector and building cars that truly change what is possible on four wheels is a lifelong dream. The small and mighty team Thomas and I are growing in Gloucestershire will build a legacy for delivering world-class cars which perform beyond conventional expectations.”

The company was based at Swinhay Farm near Wootton-under-Edge, where Sir David had also commissioned the building of a futuristic home designed by architects Austin Design Works. While I understand the family never lived in it (media reports at the time said that his wife didn’t want to move in to such a big house), it was an exemplar for sustainable technology and formed the backdrop for some episodes of BBC’s Sherlock series.

Austin Design Works said the house remains a unique example of a modern country house and it is doubtful there will be others of this style, scale and ambition. Replace “country house” with “engineering genius” and it’s an appropriate description of Sir David himself.

According to the Sunday Times Rich List 2024, with a net worth of £1.2 billion, Sir David McMurtry was the 135th richest person in the UK with an estimated wealth of £1.25 billion.

Gloucestershire and Great Britain has lost a truly great engineer, but the success of the business he co-founded with John Deer in 1973 is testament to his enduring legacy.