- Lancelot Royle
Sir Lancelot Carrington Royle KBE (
31 May 1898 –19 June 1978 ) was a British olympian andbusinessman .Royle was an Olympic athlete (
Paris 1924),Chairman andCEO of Allied Suppliers Ltd.,Home & Colonial Stores Ltd.,Lipton Ltd.,NAAFI and one of Britain’s leading 20th century retail businessmen.Education
Lancelot Royle was the son of Rev.
Vernon Royle , the famous test cricketer, and grew up atStanmore Park, north ofLondon . He was educated atHarrow School andRMA Woolwich .Early career
Royle left Harrow in 1916 and was commissioned into the
Royal Field Artillery and shipped out toFrance to fight in theFirst World War . He was to remain on European theatre until theArmistice in 1918.At the end of the war, Royle remained in the army, and was encouraged to develop his sporting prowess. He was a highly talented sprinter, competing regularly with the likes of
Harold Abrahams andEric Liddell for honours. He was British Army sprint Champion in 1920 and 1921, but resigned his commission as aLieutenant later the same year. In 1924, he representedGreat Britain as part of the "Chariots of Fire " team inParis . He won a Silver Medal in the 4 * 100 relay, in a team including Harold Abrahams. He was also a talented 200 meter sprinter, and it was he that gave up his spot to allow Eric Liddell to run the 200 meter race where Liddell won Bronze.Business career
Royle began his business career with Unilever and by the start of the Second World War, was regarded as one of the finest retail executives in the country. He rejoined the Royal Artillery, but was asked by the
Prime Minister ,Winston Churchill to be co-chairman of the Macharg/Royle Treasury Committee and then to take on the Chairmanship ofNAAFI . He was to hold the Chairmanship for 12 years, during which time NAAFI developed into a global operation, serving British forces around the Empire. As Chairman, he transformed Home and Colonial Stores into one of premier retail shopping destinations in the United Kingdom. He was invited to sit on the boards of British Match Corporation as deputy chairman,Wilkinson Sword ,Bryant and May , Liebigs andOxo among others. He was a Governor ofHarrow School . He resigned his Royal Artillery commission as aCaptain in 1948.Family
He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in 1944.
He married Barbara Haldin in 1922, they had 2 sons (
Anthony Royle , later Baron Fanshawe of Richmond andTimothy Royle , founder of theControl Risks Group ) and a daughter. He died in 1978 aged 80.
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