Henry Cobden Turner

Henry Cobden Turner (1888–1970, also known as Harry Cobden Turner) was an English engineer, businessman, and managing director of Salford Electrical Instruments (SEI).

Life and career Cobden Turner attended Manchester Grammar School, Salford Technical School, and Manchester College of Technology.

He was made managing director of SEI in 1918, overseeing advancements in instrumentation. Before the outbreak of the Second World War he also became a councillor for Salford, concerning himself with the plight of the unemployed in the city. After the Nazis came to power, he became concerned about the lack of defence technology to counter the threat of aggression.

Shortly before the war began, he had learned from his friend Hans Ferdinand Mayer who worked at Siemens, and who he had met at the CCIF telecommunications conference in Oslo in 1938, that the Germany was working on developing influence fuses for its artillery. This inspired them to use their combined skills to propose a new kind of fuze. A high frequency oscillator would transit disruptive signals to bombs, causing them to detonate. On 8 May 1940 a proposal for the device was submitted to the Royal Aircraft Establishment.

By chance, Cobden Turner met Reginald Victor Jones in person while travelling in 1953, beginning several years of correspondence between the two. He also consulted with him on technical matters on behalf of SEI until he retired from his role there in 1957. Jones pushed for official recognition of Cobden Turner's work.

Henry Cobden Turner died in 1970.