JACOMB, Sir Martin Wakefield (1929-2024)
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Sir Martin Jacomb, City grandee closely linked to the ‘Big Bang’ revolution – obituary
He personified old-style integrity and was a key adviser to the government on the privatisation of British Telecom
Sir Martin Jacomb, who has died aged 94, was a barrister and merchant banker who became founder chairman of BZW, the investment banking arm of Barclays, and a key adviser to the government on the privatisation of British Telecom; he went on to be chairman of Prudential, Canary Wharf and the British Council….
Martin Wakefield Jacomb was born in Surrey on November 11 1929, the youngest of five children of a City wool broker…..
At various times he was a member of the court of the Bank of England, an adviser to the US Federal Reserve, deputy chairman of Commercial Union and a director of Marks & Spencer, British Gas, RTZ, Christian Salvesen and The Telegraph. He served on the boards of the Royal Opera House, the OUP, the National Heritage Memorial Fund, and was Chancellor of Buckingham University. He was knighted in 1985.
In later years he occasionally contributed to the business pages of The Spectator – and to Daily Telegraph obituaries. Into his nineties, though notably stooped, he remained active in City and political debate. He voted Remain in the EU referendum, “but only because the EU will collapse unless reformed, and I would like the UK to lead the reformation”......
He married, in 1960, Evelyn Heathcoat Amory; they had two
sons (one of whom predeceased him) and a daughter.
Sir Martin Jacomb, born November 11 1929, died June 8 2024
