Francis Dunnell

Sir Robert Francis Dunnell, 1st Baronet, (26 July 1868 – 16 July 1960) was an English solicitor, civil servant and railway executive.

In the decade before World War I, Dunnell was in charge of the legal department and company secretary of the North Eastern Railway Company (NER). From 1917, his services were lent to the government, serving in the Admiralty and a Naval Mission to the United States. In the post-war years Dunnell was secretary of the demobilisation section of the War Cabinet, after which he was appointed for two years to the newly-formed Ministry of Transport during its post-war establishment period. In September 1921, Dunnell returned to the North Eastern Railway Company, which was afterwards subsumed into the London and North Eastern Railway Company (LNER) (to which he was appointed chief legal adviser). He resigned from the LNER in 1928 and two years later was appointed as a Railway and Canal Commissioner. Dunnell went to live in Nairobi in 1947, where he died in 1960.

Early life, education and pre-war career Dunnell was born on 26 July 1868 at Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, the third son of Robert Dunnell and Harriet (née Smith). He was educated at the Rossall School.

In December 1890, Dunnell was admitted, with honours, to the roll of solicitors of the Supreme Court. In 1891, he joined the staff of the solicitor's department of the North Eastern Railway Company (NER). The purpose of the mission was to consult with the US government regarding measures to be adopted to counter the heavy losses of Allied shipping by German submarines.

At the end of the war, Dunnell was appointed secretary of the demobilisation section of the War Cabinet, again working under Geddes. After the establishment of the Ministry of Transport in September 1919, the directors of the North Eastern Railway consented to Dunnell's temporary transfer to the ministry for two years during "the period of control". He was appointed first secretary and solicitor to the newly-formed ministry, under Geddes as the first Minister of Transport. In December 1921, it was announced that he would be created a baronet for his services to the Ministry of Transport during the period of post-war work, to take effect from 11 January 1922.

In late June 1928, Dunnell led the legal team representing the London and North Eastern Railway Company at the commencement of the coronial inquest into the Darlington train collision. The accident occurred on the night of 27 June 1928 at Darlington railway station in County Durham, when a parcel train collided head-on with an excursion train on the same track, causing the deaths of 25 people and the serious injury of over 50 more.

Dunnell retired from LNER in late 1928. In April 1930, he was appointed a Railway and Canal Commissioner.

In 1947, Dunnell went to live in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. The baronetcy became extinct upon his death.

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