Peter Corby

Peter John Siddons Corby (8 July 1924 – 5 August 2021) was a British inventor. He joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve after leaving school and served as a flight engineer with No. 78 Squadron RAF in the last weeks of the Second World War. Corby remained with the RAF after the war serving in teaching and maintenance roles as well as with No. 15 Squadron RAF. He retired in 1951 to join his father's business making valet stands. Corby was inspired by a meeting with an aeronautical engineer who had developed electrical heating systems for the Concorde supersonic aircraft. Corby utilised these systems in the Corby trouser press, which was sold widely to hotel chains. Corby sold his company in 1977 and retired to the Isle of Wight. He entered the insurance industry as an underwriter at Lloyd's of London but lost much of his wealth during an insurance crisis in the 1990s.