Martin Jacomb

Sir Martin Jacomb (born 11 November 1929)^[1] is a former Chancellor of the University of Buckingham and Chairman of Canary Wharf Group.

Education and career

Jacomb was educated at Eton College and Worcester College, Oxford. He was called to the Bar at Inner Temple in 1955 and practised as a barrister until 1968 before embarking upon a successful career in business. In 1985 he was appointed Knight Bachelor by HM The Queen.

In 1986 he described insider trading as a "victimless crime"^[2]

In 1998 he was appointed the third Chancellor of the University of Buckingham in succession to The Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone, KG, CH, PC, QC and The Baroness Thatcher, LG, OM, PC. He was installed in 1999. According to the University of Buckingham, which is Britain's only private university, "He is a strong believer in the need for universities to be independent of the government".^[3] He has written that if universities are "to nurture genuinely free and creative academic research" and "be the guardians of liberty which a free society needs" they must be independent of government funding.^[4] He has written that the University of Oxford should become private in order to avoid an authoritarian government imposing restrictions on admissions. Further, the university's academics will only be able to challenge prevailing opinion if they are independent of government funding.^[5] Dependence on government funding, he continues, has had disastrous effects on the higher education sector in continental Europe.^[6]

Jacomb retired from the chancellorship in March 2010. He is succeeded by Lord Tanlaw, who is the University's fourth chancellor.

Articles by Martin Jacomb

• List of articles in The Spectator
• List of articles in Financial Times

References

1. ^ Debrett's People of Today (2007)
2. ^ Paul Murphy, 'Market insight: Despite FSA rhetoric market abuse is rampant', Financial Times (9 July 2007)
3. ^ The Chancellor, The University of Buckingham (updated 17 May 2007, accessed 4 October 2008)
4. ^ Martin Jacomb, 'Britain's only independent university', Forward Together (University of Buckingham 30th Anniversary Campaign 2006-2012) (updated 24 April 2008, accessed 4 October 2008)
5. ^ Martin Jacomb, 'The solution is to privatise Oxford', The Spectator (6 December 2006)
6. ^ Martin Jacomb, 'The solution is to privatise Oxford', The Spectator (6 December 2006)

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Name	Jacomb, Martin
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Date of birth	11 November 1929
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