Montagu Norman, 1st Baron Norman

The Right Honourable The Lord Norman DSO PC
Norman on the cover of Time, 1929
Governor of the Bank of England
In office 1920–1944
Preceded by	Sir Brien Cokayne
Succeeded by	The Lord Catto
Personal details
Born	Montagu Collet Norman 6 September 1871(1871-09-06) Kensington, London, England
Died	4 February 1950(1950-02-04) (aged 78) Campden Hill, London, England
Nationality	British
Profession	Banker

Montagu Collet Norman, 1st Baron Norman DSO PC (6 September 1871 – 4 February 1950) was an English banker, best known for his role as the Governor of the Bank of England from 1920 to 1944. Norman, who led the Bank during the harshest period in British economic history, was noted for his somewhat raffish and arty appearance.

Early life and military service

Norman was the elder son of Frederick Henry Norman and Lina Susan Penelope Collet, a daughter of Sir Mark Wilks Collet, 1st Baronet, himself a Bank of England Governor. The Norman family were well-known in banking. His brother Ronald Collet Norman and his nephew Mark Norman became leading bankers. His great-nephew David Norman has also led a successful City career and is a noted benefactor of the arts. He was educated at Eton and spent one year at King's College, Cambridge.^[1] He also joined the 4th Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire militia in 1894 and served in the Second Boer War. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in 1901.^[2]

Merchant banking

After spending time in Europe, he joined Martin's Bank, where his father was a partner, in 1892, Brown, Shipley & Co., where his maternal grandfather was a partner, in 1894, and Brown Bros. & Co. of New York, in 1895. He became a partner in Brown Shipley in 1900 before leaving for South Africa, and retired from them in 1915.

Bank of England

He became a director of the Bank of England in 1907 and during World War I he was a financial advisor to government departments. He was appointed Deputy Governor in 1917 and he became Governor in 1920. Under Norman's Governorship, the bank underwent significant change. In 1931 the United Kingdom permanently abandoned the gold standard, at which point the bank's foreign exchange and gold reserves were transferred to the British Treasury. He was a close friend of the German Central Bank president Hjalmar Schacht and the godfather to one of Schacht's grandchildren.^[3] Both were members of the Anglo-German Fellowship and the Bank for International Settlements. Norman's exact role and responsibility as director of the BIS during the time when ₤6,000,000 of Czechoslovak gold held in the Bank of England was transferred to the German Reichsbank in 1939, is yet to be determined.^[4] He retired from the bank in 1944.

Honours

Following his retirement, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Norman, of St Clere in the County of Kent, on 13 October 1944.^[5] In addition to receiving the Distinguished Service Order, Norman was sworn of the Privy Council in 1923^[6] and was created a Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown.^[7]

Personal life

On 2 November 1933, Lord Norman married Priscilla Cecilia Maria Reyntiens, London councillor and granddaughter of the Montagu Bertie, 7th Earl of Abingdon. He gained two stepsons from this marriage; Sir Simon Towneley and Sir Peregrine Worsthorne. Lord Norman died at his home in Campden Hill, London, in 1950 following a stroke. Norman had no children himself and his barony became extinct on his death.

Footnotes

1. ^ Norman, Montagu Collet in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
2. ^ London Gazette: no. 27359. p. 6326. 27 September 1901. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
3. ^ Forbes, Neil (2000), "Doing Business with the Nazis"
4. ^ Blaazer, David (2005). "Finance and the End of Appeasement: The Bank of England, the National Government and the Czech Gold". Journal of Contemporary History 40 (1): 25–39. doi:10.1177/0022009405049264. 
5. ^ London Gazette: no. 36746. p. 4698. 13 October 1944. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
6. ^ London Gazette: no. 32840. p. 4605. 29 June 1923. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
7. ^ London Gazette: no. 33260. p. 1960. 25 March 1927. Retrieved 28 November 2009.

References

• Williamson, Philip (May 2006). "Norman, Montagu Collet, Baron Norman (1871–1950)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35252. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35252. Retrieved 28 November 2009.  Subscription or UK public library membership required

Further reading

• Ahamed, Liaquat, Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World, Penguin Books, 2009. ISBN 978-1-59420-182-0

External links

• Banking with Hitler - TV Documentary- specific acts by Montagu

Government offices
Preceded by Sir Brien Cokayne	Governor of the Bank of England 1920–1944	Succeeded by The Lord Catto
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Baron Norman 1944–1950	Extinct

Persondata
Name	Norman, Montagu Norman, 1st Baron
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	6 September 1871
Place of birth	Kensington, London, England
Date of death	4 February 1950
Place of death	Campden Hill, London, England