John Dolphin

John Robert Vernon Dolphin (1 October 1905 – 2 May 1973) was a British engineer and inventor, who joined the Secret Intelligence Service and then became the Commanding Officer of the top-secret Second World War Special Operations Executive (SOE) "Station IX", where specialist military equipment was developed.

During his time there his inventions included the Welman submarine and the Welbike.

Dolphin was born in Christleton, a small village on the outskirts of Chester on October 1, 1905, the son of Harold Evelyn Dolphin, and Dorothy Rachel Burton.

He attended Marlborough College, a boys boarding school in Wiltshire then went on to Loughborough Engineering College as a student Apprentice.

When he graduated at the age of 21 in 1926, he joined a local company Hydraulic Engineering Co. in Chester, where he worked until 1928.

Having been a cadet in the Marlborough College Contingent Junior Division Officers' Training Corps, Dolphin was commissioned as a second lieutenant 4th/5th Battalion The Cheshire Regiment (Territorial Army) on 27 April 1928, promoted lieutenant on 27 April 1931, and transferred to the TA Reserve of Officers on 15 July 1931.

He was then appointed as an Inspector for Selection Trust Ltd, where he worked for two years before taking his first management position at Austin Hoy and Co. Ltd. In 1934 he became the Sales Manager and worked as an Engineer at the Sheepbridge Coal and Iron Co. Ltd before setting up his own business, John Dolphin Ltd, Consultants, in 1938.

He was mobilised on 24 August 1939, shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, and was then given temporary promotions to captain, then to war substantive major and temporary lieutenant colonel in July 1942.

His military rank was a cover for his membership of the Secret Intelligence Service, where he was part of the "sabotage service" (Section D).

As such, he was involved in plans to create a resistance organisation in the UK.

Dolphin was the Commanding Officer of the SOE unit code-named "Station IX", which was responsible for the development and production of weapons for the SOE at a mansion called The Frythe, about an hours drive north from London near the town of Welwyn, which had been an exclusive hotel but was commandeered in August 1939 by the British Military Intelligence.

Under the Chief of Scientific Research, Professor D.M. Newitt, secret research included military vehicles and equipment, explosives and technical sabotage, camouflage, biological and chemical warfare.

In the grounds of the Frythe small cabins and barracks functioned as laboratories and workshops.

It was an unusual organisation to command for, as well as being heavily guarded by alsatian dogs; the personnel included civilian scientists and craftsmen, who like Dolphin received "war service" military rank, and military personnel from all three services, who all wore their own regimental badges and uniform.

All machines developed for the SOE by Station IX at Welwyn were given prefix "Wel-", i.e. "Welbike".

Dolphin was a keen motorcyclist (he owned a 1000cc Ariel Square Four), and with design help from Harry Lester, a former racing bike engineer, they developed a prototype of a small folding motorbike that could be dropped in a parachute container and be used by paratroopers.

Codenamed the "Welbike", this was to be the first operational transport for individual parachutists.

The Welbike was the smallest motorcycle ever used by the British Armed Forces.

The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was formed on 19 July 1940 to support the organisation of agents and cells of resistance throughout occupied Europe and provide weapons and special equipment.

The SOE headquarters was at 64 Baker Street in London, under the cover name of the Inter Services Research Bureau (ISRB).

The ISRB had several workshops and laboratories throughout England.

Between 1942 and 1945, 3853 were built, and although it was not much used by the SOE, many were issued to the Parachute Regiment and used at Arnhem during Operation Market Garden.

Dolphin invented the "Welman", a one-man submarine that was prototyped at Station IX.

The miniature submarine had no periscope, so it was hard to navigate, as the submariner had to look through specially armoured glass segments in the small "conning tower".

The Welman was designed to attach 560-pound explosive charge to its target by magnetic clips, but this could not be made to work reliably.

He became the Commanding Officer of the top-secret Inter-Services Research Station at Welwyn in Hertfordshire code-named Station IX in June 1943.

On 1 June 1943, he was transferred to the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers.

It was decided to try the Welman submarine in an attack on the Floating Dock in Bergen harbour, so on 20 November 1943 motor torpedo boats MTB 635 and MTB 625 left Lunna Voe, Shetland, carrying Welmans W45 (Lt. C. Johnsen, Royal Norwegian Navy), W46 (Lt. B. Pedersen, Norwegian Army), W47 (Lt. B. Marris, RNVR) and W48 (Lt. J. Holmes, RN).

The craft were launched at the entrance to the fjord.

Pedersen's W46 became entangled in an anti-submarine net and had to surface, where it was captured by a German patrol craft; Pedersen survived the war in a prison camp.

The other three submarines eventually had to be scuttled.

Their operators made their way north with the help of Norwegian resistance members and were picked up in February 1944 by MTB 653.

The failure made the Royal Navy concentrate on X craft and XE craft, although further Welman trials took place in Australia.

Dolphin took personal charge of the secret project to develop a 37 ft miniature submarine, which was code-named the Wellfreighter, developed during World War II by the British Special Operations Executive.

Classified Top Secret for over 50 years, it is only in recent times that Government files detailing the existence of this project have been made available for historical research.

The Welfreighter was intended to provide landing and supply of secret agents behind enemy lines, as well as use for gathering of coastal intelligence and carrying Special Forces personnel on sabotage operations and the deployment of mines in enemy harbours.

On leaving the British Army, Dolphin founded a number of companies, including the Corgi Motorcycle Co Ltd. in 1946 and also set up Dolphin Industrial Developments Ltd and Hydraulic Developments Ltd, which he ran until 1950, when he became Chief Engineer at the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment.

He returned to the TA reserve of officers after the war and was promoted to substantive major on 1 January 1949.

Dolphin then went on to become Engineer-in-Chief at the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority Research Group until 1959, became joint Managing Director of Lansing Bagnall Ltd and J. E. Shay Ltd until 1964, and a Director of TI (Group Services) Ltd, where he successfully secured patents for a number of inventions, including sheet piling revetments, improvements to fork lift trucks and the forerunner of the modern mobility scooter.

He retired from military service with the honorary rank of lieutenant colonel on 12 November 1960.