Andrew Brownsword

Andrew Brownsword (born 1947), is an English entrepreneur, developing his fortune through greeting cards and gifts and latterly hotel development, who is the majority owner of Bath Rugby.

With his fortune based on the creation of the "Forever Friends" design for greeting cards and gifts, he has regularly featured on the Sunday Times Rich List, with an estimated fortune of £190 million. [ [http://archive.thisisdorset.net/2005/4/2/57097.html Estate up £10m for landowner ] ]

Biography

Born Andrew Douglas Brownsword he was educated at The Harvey Grammar School in Folkestone, then trained as a chef, before starting the "Andrew Brownsword Collection," a publishing business founded in Bath in 1971. Brownsword started by selling greeting cards to retailers like WH Smith from boxes and the back of his car, before developing the "Forever Friends" teddy bear genre with artist Deborah Jones in a flat above a Chinese takeaway in Reading, Berkshire in the early 1980s: [cite news | url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/britain/article/0,,1279804,00.html | title=Are we soft? | publisher=Guardian | work=Guardian Unlimited | date=2004-08-10 | author=Michael Durham]

"I wanted to develop a teddy bear that appealed to adults as well as children. I based Forever Friends specifically on the teddy bear that Sebastian Flyte carried around in Brideshead Revisited. It became the bear found in the attic."

The success created a financial income to develop the "Andrew Brownsword Group," based on greetings cards and associated gifts that was regarded as an industry pace-setter in design and innovation, [http://www.abodehotels.co.uk/pdfs/ABode_Glasgow_press_pack.pdf] with a peak turnover of £65 million. The Andrew Brownsword Collection, Andrew Brownsword Gifts and the Gordon Fraser Gallery (the latter acquired in 1989), [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE2DB113BF934A25752C1A965958260 Hallmark Acquisition - New York Times ] ] were acquired by Hallmark Cards in 1994 for an estimated £195 million. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb4331/is_199312/ai_n15132345 Hallmark to buy U.K. company. (Hallmark Cards, Andrew Brownsword Group) (Brief Article) | Supermarket News | Find Articles at BNET.com ] ] Brownsword became Chief Executive of Hallmark in Europe, a position which he held for four and a half years before leaving to develop other business interests.

Brownsword has used these monies since to develop both his business and charitable interests, buying stakes in: property development (The Bath Priory, Gidleigh Park in Devon, and Sydney House in Chelsea, London); ABode Hotels with chef Michael Caines; buying various businesses including Paxton & Whitfield cheese and Snow and Rock, [ [http://www.natives.co.uk/news/2004/07/09srk.htm Snow+Rock sold ] ] founding local radio station Bath FM with journalist and local resident Jonathan Dimbleby; [ [http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/rau/newsroom/Appraisal/bristol_north_somerset.htm Appraisal of Bristol/North Somerset award ] ] and buying Bath Rugby. [ [http://www.bathrugby.com/4007_1829.php Bath Rugby : Rec Development Update - You Can Make A Difference ] ]

The "Andrew Brownsword Art Foundation" is a registered charity which buys and loans works of art to mainly UK based museums. [http://www.charity-commission.gov.uk/registeredcharities/SIR/ENDS89/0001074789_SIR_05_E.PDF] The collection includes works by Thomas Gainsborough. [ [http://www.studio-international.co.uk/studio-images/citizens_and_kings/5_b.asp Thomas Gainsborough. George Byam with His Wife Louisa and Their Daughter Selina, c.1762, and reworked by 1766. Oil on canvas, 249 x 238.8 cm. The Andrew Brownsword Arts Foundation. On long-term loan to the Holburne Museum of Art, Bath Photo: © The Andrew Brownsword Arts Foundation, Bath ] ]

Personal life

Married to Christina, Brownsword has two daughters and lives in the week in London, and at the weekend in their various homes in the West Country. [http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:FTTsxvmT26IJ:www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4153/is_20060714/ai_n16543672/pg_2+andrew+brownsword&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=30&client=safari] Brownsword enjoys skiing and sailing.

Having become heavily involved in The Prince's Trust, his friends include Prince Charles [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/07/31/nchas31.xml News - Telegraph ] ] Brownsword sponsored the £1 million development of the markethall at Poundbury, designed by architect, John Simpson & Partners and based on early designs, particularly the one in Tetbury. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2001/01/30/bagiles.xml&page=3 A model village grows up gracefully - Telegraph ] ]

Brownsword's main second home is in Bath, and he has helped sponsor numerous local charities and organisations: Bath Festival, [ [http://www.bathmusicfest.org.uk/thank-you.html Bath Music Festival | Thank You ] ] RUH, Holburne Museum, and Bath Abbey. [ [http://www.applausesw.org.uk/database/displaymedia.asp?id=0000575&media=image Plymouth Theatre History ] ] His renovated holiday home Kittery Court in Kingswear, Devon, was destroyed in a fire caused by a plumber in April 2007. [ [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=449178&in_page_id=1770 Blundering plumber burns down £5m mansion | the Daily Mail ] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.gidleigh.com Gidleigh Park]
* [http://www.abodehotels.co.uk ABode Hotels]