Michael Montague, Baron Montague of Oxford
Encyclopedia
Michael Montague, Baron Montague of Oxford CBE (March 10, 1932 - 5 November 1999) was a British
businessman and politician.
and Magdalen College, Oxford
.
A gifted salesman, Montague founded Gatehill Beco in 1958 aged 26 on an investment of £100, selling electric wire and later making cheap electric boiling rings: "I used to make the goods, sell them, deliver them to the back door, and then go round to the front to collect the money." After he received a large order he could not fulfil himself, Montague sought out a large corporate, and eventually sold out to Valor
in 1962, of which he then became a Director and then Managing Director.
Montague diversified the company through both product innovation and export driven expansion, visiting even the under developed markets of Africa
, Asia
and Japan
personally at least once a year. In 1969 he was made chair of the Asia committee of the British National Export Council, where he served until 1972, as a result of which he received a CBE
.
Montague expanded Valor, when in 1987 Valor paid £263m for Yale locks and NuTone
. In August 1989 Ingersoll Rand
sold its 2.2% holding in Yale & Valor
to Williams Holdings
, which thereby took its stake to 5.8%. In January 1991 Williams Holdings paid £330m for Yale & Valor, and Montague left the company. The Valor brand is now owned by Baxi Holdings plc, and the Yale Lock Company is now a subsidiary of Assa Abloy
.
and Ramada Jarvis Hotels
.
Montague also expanded his public duties, and was Governor and Chairman of the Audit Commission at Oxford Brookes University
. As chair of the English Tourist Board he made attacks on: second-rate hoteliers; greedy seaside impresarios; grubby motorway caterers; miserable museum attendants; surly waiters; and taxi drivers - whom he accused of cadging large tips out of unsuspecting tourists. When latterly as chair of the National Consumer Council, he told the public to boycott places offering poor value for money.
A keen supporter of the Arts, among other activities he sponsored the Oxford Festival and was chair of the Henley Festival
from 1992 to 1994.
, Montague said in an open letter to the press that he "deplored the way the Conservatives had attacked the newly elected Labour government as bad for British business, given that as a businessman I have suffered from the results of bad economic management of the past few years".
A good friend of Labour party
leader John Smith
and Peter Mandelson
, Montague was a member of the Millennium Commission
from February 1994 until May 1997 Continuing his friendship of the Labour party via Mandelson with new leader Tony Blair
, he was given a peerage
in 1997. It later emerged that this was after he had made a donation of £5,000 to the Labour party.
Montague collapsed while attending the House of Lords
on 5 November 1999. He was pronounced dead in the ambulance
on the way to St Thomas' Hospital
.
ese partner of 35 years, Takashi Sizuki, having to sell their home in Dorchester-on-Thames to pay the Death Duties. At the time, Inheritance tax was charged at 40 per cent on the excess value of estates valued at £231,000 and above, but there was an exemption for estates inherited by the surviving partner of a married couple. It was part of Alli's campaign that resulted in the laws which created Civil partnerships in the United Kingdom
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
businessman and politician.
Biography
Michael Jacob Montague was born on March 10, 1932, the son of David and Eleanor Montague. He attended the Royal Grammar School, High WycombeRoyal Grammar School, High Wycombe
See Royal Grammar School for the other schools with the name RGS.The Royal Grammar School High Wycombe is a selective grammar school situated in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. As a state school it does not charge fees for students to attend, but they must pass an entrance exam...
and Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College, Oxford
Magdalen College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2006 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £153 million. Magdalen is currently top of the Norrington Table after over half of its 2010 finalists received first-class degrees, a record...
.
A gifted salesman, Montague founded Gatehill Beco in 1958 aged 26 on an investment of £100, selling electric wire and later making cheap electric boiling rings: "I used to make the goods, sell them, deliver them to the back door, and then go round to the front to collect the money." After he received a large order he could not fulfil himself, Montague sought out a large corporate, and eventually sold out to Valor
Yale & Valor
Yale & Valor was a company in Birmingham that manufactured locks and gas fires. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange.-History:In 1890, the Valor Company Ltd. was formed in Birmingham for manufacturing oil-storage cabinets. Later it diversified into paraffin and subsequently gas heaters...
in 1962, of which he then became a Director and then Managing Director.
Montague diversified the company through both product innovation and export driven expansion, visiting even the under developed markets of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
personally at least once a year. In 1969 he was made chair of the Asia committee of the British National Export Council, where he served until 1972, as a result of which he received a CBE
CBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
.
Montague expanded Valor, when in 1987 Valor paid £263m for Yale locks and NuTone
NuTone
NuTone is an American company that manufactures products mainly for residential use, including doorbells, intercom systems, indoor air quality products, ventilation systems, range hoods, ceiling fans, built-in electric heaters, medicine cabinets, ironing equipment, and home theater systems.The...
. In August 1989 Ingersoll Rand
Ingersoll Rand
Ingersoll-Rand plc is a $13 billion global diversified industrial company founded in 1871. The Ingersoll Rand name came into use in 1905 through the combination of Ingersoll-Sergeant Drill Company and Rand Drill Company...
sold its 2.2% holding in Yale & Valor
Yale & Valor
Yale & Valor was a company in Birmingham that manufactured locks and gas fires. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange.-History:In 1890, the Valor Company Ltd. was formed in Birmingham for manufacturing oil-storage cabinets. Later it diversified into paraffin and subsequently gas heaters...
to Williams Holdings
Williams Holdings
Williams Holdings was a major British conglomerate. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.-History:...
, which thereby took its stake to 5.8%. In January 1991 Williams Holdings paid £330m for Yale & Valor, and Montague left the company. The Valor brand is now owned by Baxi Holdings plc, and the Yale Lock Company is now a subsidiary of Assa Abloy
Assa Abloy
The Assa Abloy Group is a Swedish lock manufacturer, the world's largest by sales. Assa Abloy was formed in 1994 when ASSA AB was detached from Swedish security firm Securitas AB. Shortly thereafter the Finnish high-security lock manufacturer Abloy Oy was acquired. The company was introduced to...
.
Other interests
Montague used his money to invest in other business, including the fledgling Planet HollywoodPlanet Hollywood
Planet Hollywood, a restaurant inspired by the popular portrayal of Hollywood, was launched in New York on October 22, 1991, with the backing of Hollywood stars Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.-History:...
and Ramada Jarvis Hotels
Ramada International
Ramada International is the company that owns, operates, and franchises hotels using the Ramada name outside of the United States and Canada. Ramada International was formerly owned by Marriott International, a competitor of Cendant, which owned Ramada in the United States and Canada...
.
Montague also expanded his public duties, and was Governor and Chairman of the Audit Commission at Oxford Brookes University
Oxford Brookes University
Oxford Brookes University is a new university in Oxford, England. It was named to honour the school's founding principal, John Brookes. It has been ranked as the best new university by the Sunday Times University Guide 10 years in a row...
. As chair of the English Tourist Board he made attacks on: second-rate hoteliers; greedy seaside impresarios; grubby motorway caterers; miserable museum attendants; surly waiters; and taxi drivers - whom he accused of cadging large tips out of unsuspecting tourists. When latterly as chair of the National Consumer Council, he told the public to boycott places offering poor value for money.
A keen supporter of the Arts, among other activities he sponsored the Oxford Festival and was chair of the Henley Festival
Henley Festival
The Henley Festival of Music and the Arts is held each July in England on the Berkshire bank of the River Thames, at the same spot and using adapted facilities from the Henley Royal Regatta, which is held the week before....
from 1992 to 1994.
Politics
After the 1964 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1964
The United Kingdom general election of 1964 was held on 15 October 1964, more than five years after the preceding election, and thirteen years after the Conservative Party had retaken power...
, Montague said in an open letter to the press that he "deplored the way the Conservatives had attacked the newly elected Labour government as bad for British business, given that as a businessman I have suffered from the results of bad economic management of the past few years".
A good friend of Labour party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
leader John Smith
John Smith (UK politician)
John Smith was a British Labour Party politician who served as Leader of the Labour Party from July 1992 until his sudden death from a heart attack in May 1994...
and Peter Mandelson
Peter Mandelson
Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson, PC is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Hartlepool from 1992 to 2004, served in a number of Cabinet positions under both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, and was a European Commissioner...
, Montague was a member of the Millennium Commission
Millennium Commission
The Millennium Commission in the United Kingdom was set up to aid communities at the end of the 2nd millennium and the start of the 3rd millennium. It used funding raised through the UK National Lottery....
from February 1994 until May 1997 Continuing his friendship of the Labour party via Mandelson with new leader Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
, he was given a peerage
Peerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
in 1997. It later emerged that this was after he had made a donation of £5,000 to the Labour party.
Montague collapsed while attending the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
on 5 November 1999. He was pronounced dead in the ambulance
Ambulance
An ambulance is a vehicle for transportation of sick or injured people to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient...
on the way to St Thomas' Hospital
St Thomas' Hospital
St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS hospital in London, England. It is administratively a part of Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. It has provided health care freely or under charitable auspices since the 12th century and was originally located in Southwark.St Thomas' Hospital is accessible...
.
After death
In February 2000, openly gay Lord Alli raised the issue of Montague's JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese partner of 35 years, Takashi Sizuki, having to sell their home in Dorchester-on-Thames to pay the Death Duties. At the time, Inheritance tax was charged at 40 per cent on the excess value of estates valued at £231,000 and above, but there was an exemption for estates inherited by the surviving partner of a married couple. It was part of Alli's campaign that resulted in the laws which created Civil partnerships in the United Kingdom
Civil partnerships in the United Kingdom
Civil partnerships in the United Kingdom, granted under the Civil Partnership Act 2004, give same-sex couples rights and responsibilities identical to civil marriage...
.