Britain
John Norton-Griffiths
1871–1930 Founder of the Tunnelling Companies
Known as 'Empire Jack' for his imperial enthusiasms, Sir John Norton-Griffiths was a civil engineer and Member of Parliament who had built railways and sewers in several countries. In February 1915 he persuaded the War Office to form Tunnelling Companies from coal miners and 'clay-kickers', men who dug in London clay. They went on to dig the mines at Hill 60, Lochnagar and Messines. In 1916 he was sent to Romania to destroy oil wells and grain stocks before they could fall into German hands. After the war he returned to business and politics, and died in 1930 off Alexandria in circumstances generally taken to be suicide.