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Montagu Norman

 
Montagu Norman

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Montagu Norman



 
 
Montagu Collet Norman, 1st Baron Norman, DSO
Distinguished Service Order

The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other Commonwealth of Nations countries, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat....
 (6 September 1871–4 February 1950), was an English banker, best known for his role as the Governor of the Bank of England
Bank of England

The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and is the model on which most modern, large central banks have been based. Since 1946 it has been a Nationalisation institution....
 from 1920 to 1944.

Sir Montagu Norman was the elder son of Frederick Henry Norman
Frederick Henry Norman

Frederick Henry Norman was an England and a director of the merchant bank Brown, Shipley & Co.. The Norman family have a long history in English banking....
 and Lina Susan Penelope Collet, a daughter of Sir Mark Wilks Collet
Mark Wilks Collet

Sir Mark Wilks Collet, 1st Baronet was an English merchant and banker. He served as Governor of the Bank of England between 1887 and 1889, and was made a baronet on 12 June 1888 in connection with his services in converting the National Debt ....
, 1st Baronet, himself a Bank of England Governor.






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Time Magazine Cover Montagu Norman
Montagu Collet Norman, 1st Baron Norman, DSO
Distinguished Service Order

The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other Commonwealth of Nations countries, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat....
 (6 September 1871–4 February 1950), was an English banker, best known for his role as the Governor of the Bank of England
Bank of England

The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and is the model on which most modern, large central banks have been based. Since 1946 it has been a Nationalisation institution....
 from 1920 to 1944.

Sir Montagu Norman was the elder son of Frederick Henry Norman
Frederick Henry Norman

Frederick Henry Norman was an England and a director of the merchant bank Brown, Shipley & Co.. The Norman family have a long history in English banking....
 and Lina Susan Penelope Collet, a daughter of Sir Mark Wilks Collet
Mark Wilks Collet

Sir Mark Wilks Collet, 1st Baronet was an English merchant and banker. He served as Governor of the Bank of England between 1887 and 1889, and was made a baronet on 12 June 1888 in connection with his services in converting the National Debt ....
, 1st Baronet, himself a Bank of England Governor. He was educated at Eton
Eton College

Eton College, also known as Eton, is a world-famous British independent school for boys, founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England. It was founded as the King's College of Our Lady of Eton beside Windsor....
 and King's College, Cambridge
King's College, Cambridge

King's College, Cambridge is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and St. Nicholas in Cambridge, it is referred to as King's within the university....
. He was created as the 1st Baron Norman on 13 October 1944. The barony became extinct upon his death in 1950. The Norman family
Norman family

The Norman family became prominent in British banking circles from about 1820 to 1950. The most prominent member of the family was Montagu Norman....
 were well-known in banking.

Under Norman's Governorship, the bank underwent significant change. In 1931 the United Kingdom permanently abandoned the gold standard
Gold standard

The gold standard is a monetary system in which a region's common media of exchange are paper notes that are normally freely convertible into pre-set, fixed quantities of gold....
, 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
Hjalmar Schacht

Dr. Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht was the Currency Commissioner and President of the Reichsbank under the Weimar Republic, and President of the Reichsbank between 1933 and 1939....
 and the godfather to one of Schacht's grandchildren. Both were members of the Anglo-German Fellowship
Anglo-German Fellowship

The Anglo-German Fellowship was founded in London in September 1935, by the English merchant banker Ernest Tennant, who was also a friend of Joachim von Ribbentrop, German Ambassador to Britain....
 and the Bank for International Settlements
Bank for International Settlements

The Bank for International Settlements is an international organization of central banks which "fosters international monetary and financial cooperation and serves as a bank for central banks." The BIS carries out its work through subcommittees, the secretariats it hosts, and through its annual General Meeting of all members....
.

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.

On 2 November 1933, Norman married Priscilla Reyntiens
Priscilla Reyntiens

Priscilla Cecilia Maria Reyntiens, The Lady Norman, Order of the British Empire, Justice of the Peace was a London councillor, board member, and supporter of mental health and nursing institutions....
, London councillor, and granddaughter of the 7th Earl of Abingdon. His stepson from this marriage was Sir Peregrine Worsthorne
Peregrine Worsthorne

Sir Peregrine Gerard Worsthorne is a United Kingdom journalist, writer and broadcaster. He was educated at Stowe School, Peterhouse, Cambridge and Magdalen College, Oxford....
.

His brother Ronald Collet Norman
Ronald Collet Norman

Ronald Collet Norman Justice of the Peace was a banker, Administrator of the Government and politician.He was chairman of the Board of Governors of the BBC from 1935 to 1939 and of the London County Council from 1918 to 1919....
 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.

Further reading

  • Ahamed, Liaquat, Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World, Penguin Books
    Penguin Books

    Penguin Books is a United Kingdom publisher founded in 1935 by Allen Lane. Lane's idea was to provide quality writing cheaply, for the same price as a pack of cigarettes....
    , 2009.


External links

  • details as viewed by Webster G. Tarpley
    Webster G. Tarpley

    Webster Griffin Tarpley is an author, journalist, lecturer, and critic of US foreign and domestic policy. Tarpley maintains that the September 11 attacks were engineered by a rogue network of the military industrial complex and intelligence agencies....