Remembering Sir David McMurtry: Renishaw founder and Concorde engineer

David McMurtry died on 9 December 2024 at the age of 84. He was an entrepreneur and inventor in the world of precision engineering. Early in his career, he contributed to the Concorde project, but he is best known for his inventions in metrology. His legacy stems not only from his innovative creations and entrepreneurial foresight but also from the values he brought to his businesses.

I attended the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2022. As the afternoon dragged on, I was hot, exhausted and ready to leave, but my good pal Dave insisted we stay a little longer. Dave is an automotive engineer who knew that if we waited, we might witness something special.

A little later, a tiny electric car with huge fans stormed up the Goodwood Hill Climb course. It was driven by former F1 driver Max Chilton, although perhaps the word “piloted” is more appropriate given the way it flew up the track. In less than 40 seconds it had completed the 1.16-mile course from a standing start, beating the previous record by 2.5 seconds.

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The car was called the McMurtry Spéirling. “Spéirling” derives from an old Irish word meaning violence, in the sense of how a storm whips debris around. With the visceral sound of its huge fans, combined with the dust storm it left in its wake, the name seemed apt. “McMurtry” referred to the founder, David McMurtry, who started the company as a side project from his best-known business, Renishaw.

How David McMurtry founded Renishaw

McMurtry was born in Dublin in 1940 and moved to the UK in 1958 at the age of 18 to begin an apprenticeship at the Bristol Aeroplane Company. By the early 1970s, the company had been acquired by Rolls-Royce, and his work focused on designing components for the engine used in Concorde. Aerospace engineering had become more complex and required greater levels of precision.

To improve the exactness of the fuel pipes of the proposed engine design, McMurtry designed the world’s first 3D touch-trigger probe. This device is capable of detecting minute surface variations and translating them into actionable data. Its use allowed Rolls-Royce to improve the accuracy of the engine components and bolster quality. However, Rolls-Royce had little commercial interest in the invention other than as a tool to be used internally.

McMurtry recognised that this technology solved a problem of rigid coordinate measurement that was difficult to repeat by making more precise reliable measurements. He therefore recognised a bigger purpose for the technology and left Rolls-Royce in 1973 to co-found Renishaw with a former colleague, John Deer. They saw that, as technology advanced, there would be an ever greater need for tools to aid in the building of precision-engineered components.

McMurtry’s instinct proved correct and over the next 50 years, the company became one of the great success stories in the UK. It received a full listing on the London Stock Exchange in 1984. McMurtry’s and Deer’s combined holding never dipped below 50%. Thus, while it became possible for outsiders to invest in the business, the duo always had a final say on what happened to the business. Over time, entrepreneurialism allowed the business to expand into more areas than just the sale of touch probes.

The firm is now involved in areas as diverse as aerospace, neurosurgery and additive manufacturing. Ironically, given McMurtry’s prior employment at Rolls-Royce, its products are often referred to as the “Rolls-Royce” of whatever application they are applied to. Among professional investors, Renishaw has often been spurned because management cultivated a reputation for aloofness. This is because McMurtry was less concerned with short-term worries that the investment community cares about than with long-term priorities, such as employees and customers.

In 2021, days before McMurtry’s 81st birthday, the company announced that Renishaw was for sale. Markets were quick to realise that Renishaw contained some remarkable assets and could be very valuable indeed. The shares rocketed, but a few months later the offer to sell the firm was rescinded.

McMurtry decided that none of the potential acquirers were the right home for Renishaw: McMurtry and Deer were more motivated by legacy than gaining additional wealth. Renishaw has built up a business with a major proportion of UK-based, highly skilled employees. This is rare in an era of outsourcing; the fear was that a new owner would cut costs and any commitment to British manufacturing excellence.

McMurtry’s wishes therefore were for a new owner to run the business for its stakeholders, not just shareholders. This meant remaining predominantly UK-based and continuing to innovate rather than just maximising cash flows. The day McMurtry’s death was announced, the price of Renishaw surged. The City was seemingly hoping that now McMurtry had gone, the company would go ahead with a sale and without the commitment to stakeholders.

As a shareholder in Renishaw, I will probably make more money if McMurtry’s wishes are ignored. But as an Englishman, I hope that the legacy of this proud Irish-born entrepreneur is respected. Like many people who have worked in the City, I never actually met McMurtry. He preferred to keep investors at arm’s length. However, he is a hero of mine, not just because of his business acumen, but because of his values. There will never be another David McMurtry.

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