LANCASTER, Jeremy (1936-2019)

[Richard R]

From the Telegraph and Times of 8 April 2019: LANCASTER Jeremy. Died very peacefully on 3rd April, with his family at his side. The Funeral Service will take place on Friday 26th April at St Paul’s Church in Broadwell at 12 noon. Family flowers only please. Donations in memory for Alzheimer’s Research can be sent to W.J. Wright Funeral Directors of Rectory House, High Street, Bourton-on-the-Water...

He was s of Norman Gerald LANCASTER (1906-81) by his 1933 m (reg Q2 Devon) to Elizabeth Lyona THEOBALD (1907-2006, having m 2nd 1987 Forbes T Horan). He m 1959 Serena Caroline (b 1939) d of Sir Horace Anthony Claud RUMBOLD 10th Bt KCMG KCVO (1911-83) and Felicity Ann (1917-84) d of Lt-Col Frederick George Glyn BAILEY (d 1951) and Lady Janet Lyle MACKAY (1886-1973, d of 1st Earl of INCHCAPE), and had a son and three daus.

[G. Willis]

I looked into this family just because the name 'Lancaster' seemed of interest; some notes:

Norman Gerald Lancaster was, per his probate record, of The Coach House, Christowe Lane, Cheltenham; a chartered accountant (F.C.A.), he was a partner at Messrs Howard Smith, Thompson & Co. (Birmingham) 1945-, a board member of the Beacon Insurance Co, Ltd 1964-, and a pilot officer in the Training Branch of the R.A.F.V.R. (WWII), M.B.E. (1944- 'for services to the Ministry of Production and to the Air Training Corps in Warwickshire'). 

Regarding his wife, the 1907 birth of a Lyona Elizabeth Theobald was recorded at Newton Abbot, Devon; in the 1911 census, an Elizabeth L. Theobald b. 1907 resides at Teignmouth, Devons. with mother 'Agnese Ew Theobald' (listed as 'married' rather than 'widow'; her occupation- 'private means', industry- 'WIFE OF LECE MANLES'- the meaning of this entirely escapes me), a brother, and two sisters, alongside two cousins. The two elder daughters were born in Sumatra. The son- Wilfred, born c. 1911- appears to be Wilfred M. Theobald, b. 1911 at Newton Abbot. He I conclude to be Flt Lt Wilfred Murray Theobald, R.A.F.V.R., D.F.C. (d. 1943) - https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/67378/Theobald-Wilfred-Murray.htm - 'His father was a tea, rubber and sisal farmer in Borneo and Sumatra before WW2'.

With these details in hand, Debrett's 1931 indicates Agnese Eleanor Mina, daughter of Sir John William Campbell, 1st Bt (of Ardnamuchan, second creation), C.B., to have married in 1899, Frederick William Theobald. An elder son, John Campbell Theobald, b. 1900, is also listed, which fits with the above URL's mention of W. M. Theobald as the youngest of a family of two brothers and five sisters (allowing for the census not including all of these, as is often the case).

Forbes Trevor Horan (1905-1996) was Bishop of Tewkesbury 1960-73.

Regarding the Lancaster ancestry:

Norman Gerald was second son of Sidney James Lancaster (1880-1935), of 245, Hagley Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, his occupation given in census records as 'rating supervisor' [also in his father's probate record], 'Blackburn Union guardian'. He had married in 1903, Evelyn, dau. of Richard Pappeen France, of the Wirral, an agent in the African trade. S. J. Lancaster's eldest son, Basil Holland (1904-1967) was of Colchester [his probate record mentions 'James Ronald Lancaster, textile salesman', possibly his son], and the youngest son, Sidney Vernon (1907-1987), was of The White House, Barnt Green, Birmingham, a chartered accountant like his elder brother Norman.

Sidney James Lancaster was son of Charles Holland Lancaster (1852-1924), of Lingdale, Blundellsands, Lancs., formerly of the Wirral, an architect, civil engineer and chartered surveyor, and his wife (m. 1878) Ada Mary (née Lea). There were several other children. C. H. Lancaster s. of James Holland Lancaster (1815-1886), of The Poplars, Litherland Park, Litherland, Lancs., formerly of Liverpool, wine and spirit dealer ('gentleman' per his probate record, as is so often the case), and his wife (m. 1850) Elizabeth (née Dod).

[colinp]

Obituary in Daily Telegraph 25 April 2019 here - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2019/04/25/jeremy-lancaster-businessman-described-unsung-captain-industry/

EXTRACTS

Jeremy Lancaster, who has died aged 83, followed his father as chairman of Wolseley, the world’s largest distributor of heating and plumbing products.

Jeremy and Norman Lancaster between them presided over an era of growth which transformed their Droitwich-based company from a manufacturer of agricultural and garden machinery in the 1950s to a major international supplier of building products and materials a generation later.

The Wolseley company was founded in Sydney in 1887 by Frederick Yorke Wolseley, an Irish emigrant who invented a mechanical sheep-shearing machine. He returned from Australia to create an engineering business in Birmingham – with, as his foreman, one Herbert Austin, who turned part of the workshop over to building motor cars. But the company saw no future in them and sold the Wolseley marque to Vickers, while Austin left to set up on his own and develop the Austin Seven.

By the time Jeremy Lancaster joined in 1961, Wolseley had merged with another Birmingham company, Geo H Hughes, floated on the stock exchange and embarked under Norman Lancaster’s leadership on a long series of acquisitions of smaller firms, many in the field of domestic central heating, which both Lancasters, father and son, recognised as an up-and-coming market.

Jeremy Lancaster was born at Solihull on February 28 1936. He was educated at Durlston Court prep school – evacuated from Swanage, where it was reckoned to be too close to a wartime radar station, to Earnshill in Somerset – and Rugby. After National Service in the Carabiniers he went to Christ Church, Oxford, to read English, later changing to History.

Beyond business, Lancaster was a passionate collector of 20th century art: an early admirer of Howard Hodgkin, he also owned work by Picasso, Braques, Giacometti, Frank Auerbach and Bridget Riley among many others, and lent generously to exhibitions and galleries.

He was a trustee of Birmingham’s Barber Institute of Fine Arts and Ikon Gallery of contemporary art, as well as the Artes Mundi prize held biennially in Cardiff. He was also West Midlands chairman of the National Trust and a council member of Birmingham University, where his father had been pro-chancellor.

Jeremy Lancaster married, in 1959, Serena, daughter of Sir Anthony Rumbold, 10th Bt, from a line of diplomatists whose baronetcy was created for an 18th century governor of Madras; she was also a great-grand-daughter of the shipping magnate James Mackay, 1st Earl of Inchcape. She survives him with their son and three daughters.

Jeremy Lancaster, born February 28 1936, died April 3 2019

On Monday, 8 April 2019 12:36:56 UTC+1, Richard R wrote: