Herbert Leslie Haslegrave (1902 - 1999) was a British engineering academic who developed Loughborough Technical College into Loughborough University of Technology, and was its first Vice-Chancellor.
Haslegrave was born in Yorkshire in 1902 and went to Wakefield Grammar School.[1] He continued studying part-time at Bradford Technical College whilst working as an engineering apprentice with the English Electric Company, and gained an external degree of the University of London with first class honours.[2] He then obtained a Whitworth Senior Scholarship[3] which enabled him to go to Trinity Hall, Cambridge where he gained first class honours in the Mechanical Sciences Tripos and several awards.[1] [2]
After a short period in industry he became a college lecturer, joining Wolverhampton & Staffordshire Technical College in 1931, then Bradford Technical College in 1932 and Loughborough College in 1935. He then held a series of posts as principal of colleges, respectively of St Helen's Technical College, Barnsley Technical College and Leicester College of Technology.[2] In 1953 he became Principal of Loughborough College and developed it into a College of Advanced Technology in 1957 and to the UK's first Technical University, Loughborough University of Technology in 1966.[1] He was its first Vice-Chancellor until his retirement in 1966. In 1972, Haslegrave was President of the Whitworth Society. He died in September 1999.[2]