Alfred Mond, 1st Baron Melchett: Difference between revisions
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He first visited [[Palestine]] in 1921 with [[Haim Weizman|Chaim Weizmann]] and subsequently became an enthusiastic [[Zionism|Zionist]], contributing money to the Jewish Colonization Corporation for Palestine and writing for Zionist publications.<ref name="dnb"/> He became President of the British Zionist Foundation and made financial contributions to Zionist causes. He was the first President of the [[Technion – Israel Institute of Technology|Technion]] in 1925.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.chemistry.org.il/booklet/14/pdf/weintraub.pdf |title=Alfred Mond (Lord Melchett): Great Zionist Leader |accessdate=2007-06-25 |last=Weintraub |first=Bob |date= |work= |publisher=The Israel Chemical Society |pages=6 }}</ref> Melchett founded the town of [[Tel Mond]], now in [[Israel]].<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.sarasotasistercities.org/Tel_mond.html |title=Tel Mond, Israel |accessdate=2007-06-25 |publisher=Sarasota Sister Cities Association}}</ref> |
He first visited [[Palestine]] in 1921 with [[Haim Weizman|Chaim Weizmann]] and subsequently became an enthusiastic [[Zionism|Zionist]], contributing money to the Jewish Colonization Corporation for Palestine and writing for Zionist publications.<ref name="dnb"/> He became President of the British Zionist Foundation and made financial contributions to Zionist causes. He was the first President of the [[Technion – Israel Institute of Technology|Technion]] in 1925.<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.chemistry.org.il/booklet/14/pdf/weintraub.pdf |title=Alfred Mond (Lord Melchett): Great Zionist Leader |accessdate=2007-06-25 |last=Weintraub |first=Bob |date= |work= |publisher=The Israel Chemical Society |pages=6 }}</ref> Melchett founded the town of [[Tel Mond]], now in [[Israel]].<ref>{{citation |url=http://www.sarasotasistercities.org/Tel_mond.html |title=Tel Mond, Israel |accessdate=2007-06-25 |publisher=Sarasota Sister Cities Association}}</ref> |
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Melchett also started building what is now one of the few private houses on the shore of the [[Sea of Galilee]], now known as Villa Melchett. |
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Mond was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] in 1928 and received a number of [[honorary degree]]s from [[University of Oxford|Oxford]], [[University of Paris|Paris]] and other universities.<ref name="dnb"/> |
Mond was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] in 1928 and received a number of [[honorary degree]]s from [[University of Oxford|Oxford]], [[University of Paris|Paris]] and other universities.<ref name="dnb"/> |
Revision as of 13:16, 14 May 2012
The Lord Melchett | |
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First Commissioner of Works | |
In office 10 December 1916 – 1 April 1921 | |
Monarch | George V |
Prime Minister | David Lloyd George |
Preceded by | Lewis Vernon Harcourt |
Succeeded by | The Earl of Crawford |
Minister of Health | |
In office 1 April 1921 – 19 October 1922 | |
Monarch | George V |
Prime Minister | David Lloyd George |
Preceded by | Christopher Addison |
Succeeded by | Sir Arthur Griffith-Boscawen |
Personal details | |
Born | 23 October 1868 Farnworth, Widnes, Lancashire, England |
Died | 27 December 1930 London |
Political party | Liberal Conservative |
Spouse | Violet Goetze (d. 1945) |
Alma mater | St. John's College, Cambridge University of Edinburgh |
Alfred Moritz Mond, 1st Baron Melchett PC, FRS (23 October 1868–27 December 1930), known as Sir Alfred Mond, Bt, between 1910 and 1928, was a British industrialist, financier and politician. In his later life he became an active Zionist.
Early life and education
Mond was born in Farnworth, Widnes, Lancashire, England, the younger son of Ludwig Mond, a chemist and industrialist of Jewish extraction who had emigrated from Germany, and his wife Frieda, née Löwenthal. He was educated at Cheltenham College and St. John's College, Cambridge,[1] but failed his natural sciences tripos. He then studied law at Edinburgh University and was called to the bar by the Inner Temple in 1894.[2]
Business career
Following this he joined his father's business, Brunner Mond & Company as director, later becoming its managing director. He was also managing director of his father's other company the Mond Nickel Company. Other directorships included those of the International Nickel Corporation of Canada, the Westminster Bank and the Industrial Finance Investment Corporation. His major business achievement was in 1926 working to create the merger of four separate companies to form Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) one of the world's largest industrial corporations at the time.[2] He became its first chairman.[3]
Political career
Mond was also involved in politics and sat as Liberal Member of Parliament for Chester from 1906 to 1910, for Swansea from 1910 to 1918 and for Swansea West from 1918 to 1923. He served in the coalition government of David Lloyd George as First Commissioner of Works from 1916 to 1921 and as Minister of Health (with a seat in the cabinet) from 1921 to 1922. He later switched party and represented Carmarthen from 1924 to 1928, initially as a Liberal. However, in 1926 Mond became a Conservative, after falling out with Lloyd George over the former Prime Minister's controversial plans to nationalise agricultural land.[2][4]
Mond was created a Baronet, of Hartford Hill in Great Budworth in the County of Chester, in 1910, and was admitted to the Privy Council in 1913.[2][5] In 1928 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Melchett, of Landford in the County of Southampton.[2][6]
Benefactions, Zionism and honours
Mond's father had bequeathed a collection of old master paintings to the National Gallery and Alfred provided housing for them in 1924. In 1929 he provided land in Chelsea for the Chelsea Health Society.[2]
He first visited Palestine in 1921 with Chaim Weizmann and subsequently became an enthusiastic Zionist, contributing money to the Jewish Colonization Corporation for Palestine and writing for Zionist publications.[2] He became President of the British Zionist Foundation and made financial contributions to Zionist causes. He was the first President of the Technion in 1925.[7] Melchett founded the town of Tel Mond, now in Israel.[8] Melchett also started building what is now one of the few private houses on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, now known as Villa Melchett.
Mond was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1928 and received a number of honorary degrees from Oxford, Paris and other universities.[2]
Personal life
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f8/Alfred_Mond_cartoon_from_Punch_-_Project_Gutenberg_eText_16707.png/220px-Alfred_Mond_cartoon_from_Punch_-_Project_Gutenberg_eText_16707.png)
Sir Alfred Mond: "I'm sorry to have to disturb Your Majesty, but, owing to the shortage of sites—"
George III: "Shortage of sights, indeed!"
(It is understood that a number of London statues, including that of George III in Cockspur Street, are to be removed by the Office of Works to make room for new ones.)
Cartoon from Punch magazine, 18 August 1920.
In 1894 Mond married Violet Goetze and they had one son, Henry Ludwig, and three daughters. Mond died in his London home in 1930, and his son succeeded in the barony.[2]
Publications
- Industry and Politics (1927)
- Imperial Economic Unity (1930)
Literary references
Mond is mentioned in T. S. Eliot's 1920 poem A Cooking Egg.[9]
He is also widely considered to be the inspiration behind Mustapha Mond, one of the ten world controllers in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.[10]
References
- ^ "Mond, Alfred Moritz (MNT886AM)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Greenaway, Frank (2004) 'Mond family (per. 1867–1973)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press. [1] Retrieved on 9 March 2007.
- ^ ICI's first chairman Sir Alfred Mond, Picture Stockton, retrieved 2007-06-25
- ^ Bolitho, Alfred Mond: First Lord Melchett; Carmarthen Record Office, Dynevor Papers"
- ^ "No. 29728". The London Gazette. 13 June 1913.
- ^ "No. 33395". The London Gazette. 19 June 1928.
- ^ Weintraub, Bob, Alfred Mond (Lord Melchett): Great Zionist Leader (PDF), The Israel Chemical Society, p. 6, retrieved 2007-06-25
- ^ Tel Mond, Israel, Sarasota Sister Cities Association, retrieved 2007-06-25
- ^ www.bartleby.com
- ^ . JSTOR 4239919.
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External links
- English businesspeople
- Imperial Chemical Industries executives
- Liberal Party (UK) politicians
- Liberal Party (UK) MPs
- Conservative Party (UK) MPs
- UK MPs 1906–1910
- UK MPs 1910–1918
- UK MPs 1918–1922
- UK MPs 1922–1923
- UK MPs 1924–1929
- Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies
- Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for Welsh constituencies
- Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
- Fellows of the Royal Society
- Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge
- Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
- People educated at Cheltenham College
- Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
- People from Widnes
- English Jews
- Politics of Swansea
- 1868 births
- 1930 deaths