Frederick Bentham

Frederick Bentham FABTT FIES (23 October 1911 – 10 May 2001) was a British theatre lighting designer and engineer who created the Light Console in 1932 and continued to influence lighting in theatres into the 1970s, firstly as the chief engineer before becoming the Research and Design director of Strand Electric and Engineering Company.

Bentham would go on to become the editor of TABS, Strand's technical journal, and Sightline, the ABTT's journal, as well as an author specialising in writing on the subjects of theatres and lighting.

Bentham was born on 23 October 1911 in Harlesden, to the sculpturer Percy George Bentham and his wife Ellen Celia Hobbs and had two siblings, Philip (also a sculpturer, best known for The Coventry Boy ) and Celia.

Bentham was a muse for his father at just 7 months old, with a sculpture of him created in bronze.

While at school, Bentham started his love affair with lighting by working in the amateur theatre club and by creating mock up design for theatre lighting by using Meccano.

His great grandfather was the British philosopher Jeremy Bentham.

Bentham started his career with General Electric Company in 1929.

He was part of the theatre consulting engineers department, where he was assistant to Basil Davis in what was a two man department.

The work was mainly concentrated on decorative lighting of movie theatres, which grew his interest in colour mixing and brought to his attention the electro-mechanical Mansell clutch.

In 1932, Bentham joined Strand Electric and Engineering Company to manage both their demonstration theatre and their showroom.

Strand Lighting was the leading brand in the British theatres and Bentham would go onto make his mark.

It was in 1932 that he developed the first Light Console prototype, probably the first remote control for theatre lighting to be run one person, based on a Compton organ.

He wrote about his idea in his article Light as an Art in The Builder.

Previous to the Light Console, a complex mechanical device was used and the operators were unable to see the stage.

The console used the Mansell clutch, which allowed remote control of dimmers from an electro-mechanically driven shaft.

The Light Console could be located where a single operator could actually see what was being lit. His first prototype was used by Bentham to perform a colour light show at the Ideal Home Exhibition in 1932.

He would continue to give demonstrations of what he called Colour Music.

Bentham's early work included working as consultant, which in 1933 he worked at The Questors Theatre, in Ealing and John Christie at Glyndebourne.

By 1936, he had exerted his influence on the company by introducing a new case-bound catalogue which included many innovative products designed by Bentham, including profile spotlights, parallel beamlights, and acting area spotlights.

The catalogue also included models that only had an existence in its pages but could be built if required.

He was elected to the Art Workers Guild as a Decorative Colour Worker member in 1936 after his lecture Stage Lighting as an Art at the Guild, in front of his father and George Bernard Shaw.

However Bentham fell ill this year contracting Tuberculosis, which he would require major surgery for 11 years later, and did not return to work full time until 1939.

His father Percy would also die this year.

The first commercial sale of the Light Console was to the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon in 1940.

Due to the war it took 6 months to complete the installation, with Bentham and Strand foreman Bill Pepworth having to get permission from the Portuguese ambassador to take seats on a weekly civil flight.

Bentham also led the war work of Strand by developing lighting for aircraft carriers and helped to develop a torpedo attack teacher flight simulator for the Fleet Air Arm.

In 1947, Bentham had a "Kill or Cure" operation for Tuberculosis.

It was during this recovery time he met his wife Ilse, a nurse at the sanatorium.

The prognosis at the time was not good, and Ilse told her colleagues He's been given four or five years and we intend to be happy.

It was during this time he wrote his first publication Stage Lighting.

While on his road to recovery, Bentham acted as an unofficial adviser to the construction of the Royal Festival Hall and provided a Light Console, which not only controlled the 84 on stage lighting circuits but also the lighting for the auditorium.

While in the sanatorium, Strand asked one of Bentham's team, James Templeton Wood to develop an electronic system based on Thryatron valves that George Izenour had developed at Yale University.

During 1950, the biggest Light Console yet was designed by Bentham for the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

It was during the 1950s through to the early 60s that Strand become the leading supplier to the growing UK television industry, with Bentham selling the concept of dimming and becoming a leading participant.

In 1953, Bentham and Strand engineer Morgan McLeod designed the Strand Pattern 23 spot light, the first mass-produced spotlight and die cast in aluminium.

McLeod and Bentham had met while working on the torpedo attack teacher flight simulator during the war.

The Strand Remote Control – Electronic Type or known as the Woody was unfortunately unreliable, and by 1955 Bentham had returned the company back to motorised resistance and transformer dimmers.

In 1957, Bentham became the editor of TABS, Strand Lighting's own journal and would continued in the role until his departure in 1973.

His editorship, plus his lectures at Strand's demonstration theatre gained him a wide following.

In 1969 he was elected as master of the Art Workers Guild.