Robert Kindersley, 1st Baron Kindersley

Robert Molesworth Kindersley, 1st Baron Kindersley GBE (November 21, 1871–July 20, 1954) was an English businessman, stockbroker, merchant banker, and public servant who organised the National Savings movement.

Kindersley was born in Wanstead, Essex. His father was an Old Etonian from a wealthy family who had been a Captain in the Indian Army, but had fallen on hard times since resigning his commission and becoming a chemist. Kindersley was educated at Repton School, but was forced to leave in 1887 when his father could no longer afford the fees. He then became a clerk in several London firms before joining the London Stock Exchange in 1901, becoming a partner in David A. Bevan & Co in 1902 and the merchant bank Lazard Brothers & Co in 1905, a firm with which he was connected for the rest of his life and of which he became chairman in 1919. He was Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company from 1915 to 1925 and a director of the Bank of England from 1914 to 1946. In 1924 he was the senior British representative on the Dawes Committee.

Kindersley is chiefly recognised for his work as chairman of the National Savings Committee from 1916 to 1920; he was then its president until 1946. He was also a major shareholder in the Canadian National Railway, and the town of Kindersley, Saskatchewan, was named after him.

Kindersley was knighted as Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in 1917 and raised to Knight Grand Cross (GBE) in the 1920 civilian war honours for his chairmanship of the National Savings Committee. In 1941, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Kindersley, of West Hoathly in the County of West Sussex.

Lord Kindersley was succeeded in the Barony by his second son Hugh, his eldest son Lionel having been killed in action in the First World War.

References

*Biography, "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography"