R. E. B. Crompton

Rookes Evelyn Bell Crompton was an English electrical engineer, industrialist and inventor who was one of the earliest pioneers of electric lighting and public electricity supply. He founded Crompton and Co, one of the world's first large-scale manufacturers of electrical equipment, and used it to build some of Britain's earliest central power stations and street lighting installations. Crompton also championed the international standardization of electrical engineering practice, playing a leading role in establishing the International Electrotechnical Commission so that electrical equipment built in different countries could work to common standards. His career spanned the transition of electricity from a novelty into an ordinary public utility.