The Lord Poole | |
|---|---|
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| Member of Parliament forOswestry | |
| In office 5 July 1945 – 3 February 1950 | |
| Preceded by | Bertie Leighton |
| Succeeded by | David Ormsby-Gore |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1911-11-08)8 November 1911 |
| Died | 28 January 1993(1993-01-28) (aged 81) |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Betty Margaret Gilkison Daphne Wilma Kenyon Bowles Barbara Ann Taylor |
| Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
| Awards | Commander of the Order of the British Empire Officer of the Order of the British Empire Member of the Order of the British Empire Territorial Decoration Mentioned in Despatches (3) Legion of Merit (United States) Knight Grand Officer of the Order of Orange Nassau (Netherlands) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Branch/service | British Army |
| Years of service | 1934–1946 |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Unit | Warwickshire Yeomanry |
| Battles/wars | World War II: |
Oliver Brian Sanderson Poole, 1st Baron PooleCBE TD PC (11 August 1911 – 28 January 1993), was a BritishConservative Party politician, soldier and businessman.
Oliver Brian Sanderson Poole was born at 6Montagu Mansions,St Marylebone,London, on 11 August 1911, the only child of Donald Louis Poole, an insurance broker and a member ofLloyd's of London, and his wife Therese Lilliannée Frodsham. He was educated atEton andChrist Church, Oxford, where he playedpolo for the university. He graduated in 1932 as aBachelor of Arts (B.A.).[1]
Poole served in theLife Guards for nine months,[1] and was commissioned as an officer in theWarwickshire Yeomanry in 1934.[2] During theSecond World War, he fought inSyria,Iraq,North Africa,Italy andNorth-West Europe, rising to become acolonel in theBritish Army on the staff of the21st Army Group.[3] He was thricementioned in despatches.[4][5][6] He was appointed to theOrder of the British Empire as a Member (military) on 18 February 1943,[7] and was promoted to be an Officer (military) on 16 September that year,[8] and Commander (military) on 11 October 1945.[9] He was also appointed to the AmericanLegion of Merit as a Legionnaire "in recognition of distinguished services in the cause of the Allies" on 15 March 1945,[10] and to the DutchOrder of Orange-Nassau with Swords (denoting the military division) as a Commander on 16 January 1947.[11]
Poole was electedMember of Parliament forOswestry in the1945 general election, but stood down at the1950 general election. He was later Joint Honorary Treasurer of theConservative Party from 1952 to 1955, itsChairman from 1955 to 1957, its Deputy Chairman from 1957 to 1959, its joint chairman withIain Macleod in 1963 and its vice-chairman from 1963 to 1964. In the1958 Birthday Honours, he was raised to the peerage,[12] and was gazetted on 11 July asBaron Poole, of Aldgate in the City of London.[13] In the1963 Birthday Honours, he was sworn of thePrivy Council.[14]
In 1933, Poole joined a firm of building contractors in Birmingham. He joined the family business, John Poole & Son Ltd, insurance brokers, in the city, in 1939, and became a member of Lloyd's. In 1950, he joinedS. Pearson & Sons Ltd on the invitation of his friendWeetman Pearson, 3rd Viscount Cowdray, and became its chief executive. He oversaw the expansion of the company through the acquisition of theFinancial Times,Penguin Books,Longman,Château Latour, andRoyal Doulton. From 1950 to 1965, he was a director ofLazard Brothers & Co, a London merchant bank in which Pearsons owned 80 per cent of the stock, and was its chairman from 1965 to 1973. He also became a member of the board ofFiat, inTurin, in 1972,[1] and a trustee of theNational Gallery in 1973.[2]
Poole married Betty Margaret, daughter of Captain Dugald Stewart Gilkison, on 6 September 1933. They had one son and three daughters: Caroline, Alison Victoria, Sheila Marian and David Charles. They divorced in 1951. He married Daphne Wilma Kenyon Bowles, daughter of Eustace Bowles and formerly wife of Brigadier Algernon Heber-Percy, on 9 May 1952. They had no children and were divorced in 1965. He married Barbara Ann Taylor, the only daughter of E. A. Taylor, on 4 April 1966. They had no children.[2]
Poole was confined to a wheelchair after he suffered astroke in 1974. He spent summers at his villa inCastellina in Chianti, inTuscany. He died frombronchopneumonia at his home at 24 Campden Hill Gate inKensington, London, on 28 January 1993. He was survived by his third wife (who died in 2022)[15] and his four children from his first marriage, and was succeeded in the barony by his son David.[1][16]
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| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forOswestry 1945–1950 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Baron Poole 1958–1993 | Succeeded by |
