| Honorific Prefix: | Sir |
| Walter John Worboys | |
| Birth Date: | 22 February 1900 |
| Birth Place: | Perth, WA, Australia |
| Nationality: | British |
| Education: | Scotch College |
| Alma Mater: | University of Western Australia Lincoln College, University of Oxford |
| Occupation: | businessman research chemist |
| Known For: | reforming road traffic signage, creator of the transport font |
| Employer: | Brunner Mond & Co ICI Council of Industrial Design (1947-1960) Design Centre |
| Notable Works: | Worboys Committee 1964 Traffic Signs Regulations |
| Rhodes Scholar D.Phil. Sir | |
| Awards: | Knighthood |
Sir Walter John Worboys (22 February 1900 - 17 March 1969), was an Australian-born British businessman and chemist. He is best known for widely reforming road traffic signage in the United Kingdom.
He was born in Perth, Western Australia,[1] and educated at Scotch College and the University of Western Australia. Elected a Rhodes Scholar in 1922, he gained his D.Phil. after a further period of study at Lincoln College, Oxford.[2] His first job was as a research chemist at Brunner Mond & Co. From there he moved to ICI, eventually reaching the rank of director.
In 1947 he joined the Council of Industrial Design, a body set up by the Board of Trade in 1944. He was chairman of the council from 1953 until 1960, during which time he set up the Design Centre, a permanent exhibition of the council’s work. The establishment of the Design Centre proved to be a turning point in the history of the council, which until that time had attracted more critics than friends.[3]
In 1961 he was appointed to chair a committee to bring in a new era of modern road signage.[3] The committee reported in 1963,[4] advocating a total overhaul of the style of British road signs, introducing a new style that has lasted until the present day. The report recommended the pictorial design found on many European road signs, along with a British-designed font that was to become known as the Transport font.[5]
Worboys died on 17 March 1969.[6]