Allen Barke; Led Ford’s British Subsidiary

Allen Barke, 86, who rose from a car factory timekeeper to be chief executive of the British subsidiary of the U.S. auto maker Ford. In 1932, Barke hitchhiked 180 miles to Dagenham in East London, where Ford’s huge complex was under construction. He asked at the factory gates of Briggs motor bodies--then the supplier of most of Ford’s auto bodies in Britain--for any job they had. He was hired as a timekeeper and rose through the company. In 1953, when Ford’s British subsidiary took over Briggs, Barke was given the job of merging the companies. He became director of Ford’s product division in 1959 at a time when the company’s plants were being increasingly hit by wildcat strikes. But in 1965, Barke contracted hepatitis, and poor health soon forced him to resign. In London on Jan. 29.