Montagu Norman, 1st Baron Norman
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Montagu Collet Norman, 1st Baron Norman, DSO (6 September 1871 – 4 February 1950), was an English banker, best known for his role as the Governor of the Bank of England from 1920 to 1944.
Sir Montagu Norman was the elder son of Frederick Henry Norman and Lina Susan Penelope Collet, a daughter of Sir Mark Wilks Collet, 1st Baronet, himself a Bank of England Governor. He was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge.[1] He was created as the 1st Baron Norman on 13 October 1944. The barony became extinct upon his death in 1950. The Norman family were well-known in banking.
Under Norman's Governorship, the bank underwent significant change. In 1931 the United Kingdom permanently abandoned the gold standard, at which point the bank's foreign exchange and gold reserves were transferred to the British Treasury.
He was a close friend of the German Central Bank president Hjalmar Schacht and the godfather to one of Schacht's grandchildren[2]. Both were members of the Anglo-German Fellowship and the Bank for International Settlements.
Norman's exact role and responsibility as director of the BIS during the time when ₤6,000,000 of Czechoslovak gold held in the Bank of England was transferred to the German Reichsbank in 1939, is yet to be determined.[3]
On 2 November 1933, Norman married Priscilla Reyntiens, London councillor, and granddaughter of the 7th Earl of Abingdon. His stepson from this marriage was Sir Peregrine Worsthorne.
His brother Ronald Collet Norman and his nephew Mark Norman became leading bankers. His great-nephew David Norman has also led a successful city career and is a noted benefactor of the arts.
[edit] References
- ^ Norman, Montagu Collet in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
- ^ Forbes, Neil (2000), "Doing Business with the Nazis"
- ^ Blaazer, David (2005). "Finance and the End of Appeasement: The Bank of England, the National Government and the Czech Gold". Journal of Contemporary History 40 (1): 25–39. doi:.
[edit] Further reading
- Ahamed, Liaquat, Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World, Penguin Books, 2009.
[edit] External links
- Crash of 1929 details as viewed by Webster G. Tarpley
- Banking with Hitler - TV Documentary- specific acts by Montagu
| Government offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir Brien Cokayne |
Governor of the Bank of England 1920 - 1944 |
Succeeded by Sir Thomas Catto |
