Sir Hugo Cunliffe-Owen, 1st Baronet (16 August 1870 – 14 December 1947) was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 industrialist.

Cunliffe-Owen was the younger son of Sir Philip Cunliffe-Owen

Philip Cunliffe-Owen

Sir Francis Philip Cunliffe-Owen KCB, KCMG, CIE was an exhibition organizer and the Director of the South Kensington Museum in London.- Biography :...

. He was educated at Brighton College

Brighton College

Brighton College is an institution divided between a Senior School known simply as Brighton College, the Prep School and the Pre-Prep School. All of these schools are co-educational independent schools in Brighton, England, sited immediately next to each another. The Senior School caters for...

 and then Clifton College

Clifton College

Clifton College is a co-educational independent school in Clifton, Bristol, England, founded in 1862. In its early years it was notable for emphasising science in the curriculum, and for being less concerned with social elitism, e.g. by admitting day-boys on equal terms and providing a dedicated...

 and then went into business in Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

. He became a director of the British-American Tobacco Company on its formation in 1902, later becoming vice-chairman, and chairman from 1923 until his retirement in 1945. For the last two years of his life he was president of the company.

Cunliffe-Owen worked for the Ministry of Information

Minister of Information

The Ministry of Information , headed by the Minister of Information, was a United Kingdom government department created briefly at the end of World War I and again during World War II...

 during the First World War, and for this he was created a Baronet

Baronet

A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...

in the 1920 New Year Honours.