Ted Fort, who has died at the age of 88, started a company in 1967 that went on to become the world leader in the supply of valves and ancillary equipment for road, rail, helicopter refuelling and container tanks.
Fort established Fort Vale Engineering Limited in Colne, Lancashire, following the purchase of two production machines at a sale of surplus equipment from the Ministry of Defence. The two machines were perfect for the production of Fort’s new design of valve for the fuel oil delivery industry which went on to become an industry standard. By combining his design skills with keen business acumen, he quickly identified emerging markets and produced quality products to fill the demand. The ISO tank container market was one such and provided a major leap forward in the growth of the company. The Fort Vale Group now employs around 500 people worldwide, has offices and depots in six countries and a manufacturing centre in China as well as in the UK.
Edward Sagar Fort was born in 1937 in Colne, a typical cotton-weaving town in North East Lancashire. He lived in the family farmhouse with no electricity or sewerage for many years and, at the age of ten, raised hens to sell the eggs for pocket money.
Fort struggled at school, failing the eleven-plus examination and attending Park Secondary Modern School in Colne. His prospect for a decent career looked bleak until his mother managed to get him an apprenticeship at Rolls Royce, Barnoldswick. It was a turning point. Fort relished the environment and went on to gain HNC and HND certification at Burnley College. His work at Rolls included design and production operations on cooling ducts in the turbine blades of jet engines – an area of development that gave jet engines 50% more power and a fundamental progression to the modern jet power plants.
Fort left Rolls Royce for Lucas Aerospace, Burnley, in 1960 at the age of 22, working on combustion chambers with airflow testing rigs, which proved to be invaluable experience later in his career.
Sailing had become a favourite sport with which he continued for the rest of his life. Fort started racing a Firefly dinghy at Burwain Sailing Club in Foulridge, where he made many friends. It was a sailing friend, Tony Clegg, that he joined as Deputy Chief Engineer at Drum Engineering, Bradford. At Drum he was introduced to the road transport industry and became involved with pumps and flow control valves for domestic fuel oil delivery tankers.
A visit to a Ministry of Defence surplus manufacturing equipment sale saw Fort put in derisory offers for a few machines. To his horror, he received a letter accepting the offer for two machines and an invoice for £550.0s.0d. He then started a business on his own and with help from his father, obtained a small machine shop in Colne in 1967.
Using his contacts obtained at Drum, he took on the challenge of a new valve design for a customer, which proved to be a huge success and the first ‘industry standard’ of many subsequent designs of his.
The company grew and, in 1974, moved to much larger premises in Nelson. The first export order had come in 1971 obtained on a trip to Ireland for the Firefly National Championships – the value, £10. As the tank container market was international, exports grew quickly and the first of four Queen’s Awards for Export Achievement (later, International Trade) was obtained in 1981. A King’s Award for Enterprise, International Trade, was gained in 2024.
In 1987 Fort was awarded with an OBE for contributions to business and exports and in 2018 an honorary degree from Lancaster University in recognition of his philanthropy and campaigning on the perils of climate change.
He continued sailing throughout his life and was part of the Olympic training squad in the build up to the 1976 games in the Soling class. He went on to sail in the Etchells class from 1985, racing at Cowes and many more championships abroad. He also sailed in the Dragon class and graduated from the Etchells to a 9.5m Tofinou which he particularly enjoyed racing at Cannes.
The growth of the Fort Vale Group included the acquisition and disposal of several businesses, most notably, current holdings of Francis Searchlights, Bolton, and Riggs Autopack, food industry equipment manufacturers in Nelson.
Fort Vale sales offices and depots were established in America, the Netherlands, Singapore, Australia and China.
In 2008, the company acquired the site of the Philips television manufacturing plant in Simonstone, Burnley, and built new offices with extended shop floor space. The site continues to be developed with investment in advanced manufacturing plant and design facilities.
Fort never forgot how important his apprenticeship at Rolls Royce had been and implemented an apprenticeship scheme at Fort Vale, which continues. He had great regard for his company workforce. 2018 saw the opening of a new on-site sports centre for employees.
He was listed in the Sunday Times Rich List, ranking as high as 150th, but Fort always said that with wealth comes responsibility. He set up two charitable foundations, one aiming to help youth in North West England and the other, set up with his partner of 25 years, the late Susan Friedlander, helping charitable causes in and around Beaulieu where they had settled.
His concern for man’s effect on climate change caused him to spread the word and increase the appreciation of the damage being done and its consequences. In 2020 he commissioned and constructed the Fort Climate Centre in Beaulieu with a view to promoting awareness and networking with educational establishments, community groups and businesses. The centre was officially opened in 2023 by HRH the Duchess of Sussex.
He is survived by two daughters and two grandchildren.
Edward Sagar Fort OBE LLD (Hon) – born 20th March 1937, died 7th March 2026.
March 9, 2026
You currently do not have access to this article, please login or register to read more.
Login to read more
