BULL, Sir George Jeffrey 1936-2024
Richard R
He was s of Michael Herbert Perkins BULL 1906-62 and his former wife Hon Noreen Madeleine Mary HENNESSY 1909-2004 d of 1st Baron WINDLESHAM OBE 1877-1953 and Ethel Mary 1878-1951 d of Charles Reginald WYNTER. He m 1960 Jane Fleur Thérèse (Tessa) 1937-2023 d of Patrick FREELAND of Zimbabwe, and had four sons and a dau.
Lady Bull's death posted 11 Oct 2023: https://groups.google.com/g/peerage-news/c/VlKqmx82qJ0/m/RPZIjwDTCgAJ
Richard R
Obit in the Times of 17 Aug 2024:
E X T R A C T
Sir George Bull obituary: businessman behind creation of Diageo
Salesman who climbed the corporate ladder to become one of the UK’s leading marketeers
… George Jeffrey Bull was born in 1936 in London, younger son of Michael Bull KC and the Hon Noreen Bull (née Hennessy), who was daughter of the first Baron Windelsham and worked for Dorling Advertising. Their elder son, Matthew, was a major in the Coldstream Guards who served in Northern Ireland and Cyprus, and later managed the regimental band.
Michael returned to Canada, his birthplace, to defend his own father successfully against a murder charge in 1939, leaving Noreen to bring up the boys. He never returned. Fortunately, her family were wealthy, enabling her to stay in wings of large houses, or in smaller houses on the family’s estates. George’s uncle, Fred Hennessey, an executive in the family brandy firm, became a substitute father figure….
… in 1954 entered National Service with the Coldstream Guards. He became a second lieutenant, served in Germany and the UK and took a short service extension to be available to go to the Suez Canal zone…
… In 1960 he married Thérèse “Tessa” Freeland from Zimbabwe, a floor model at Fortnum & Mason whom he had met at a House of Lords ball. They had four sons and a daughter. Sebastian and Justin went into banking, Rupert followed his father into the drinks industry, Cassian was a logistics manager for a piano company and Tamsin went into advertising… In 1992 Tessa suffered a catastrophic accident when accompanying Bull to a drinks industry conference in Palm Springs, California. Out on a stroll, a palm tree fell on her, breaking multiple bones and putting her in hospital for six months. Doctors thought she would never walk again, but she determinedly overcame her injuries despite lifelong pain. She died last year….
… Bull never let the high life turn his head. Whenever he met someone for the first time, even after he became chief executive, he would often introduce himself simply as “George Bull, salesman”.
Sir George Bull, businessman and salesman, was born on July 16, 1936. He died suddenly on July 21, 2024, aged 88