Ivan Stedeford
Encyclopedia
Sir Ivan Arthur Rice Stedeford, GBE
(28 January 1897 – 9 February 1975) was a British
industrialist and philanthropist
.
Stedeford was Chairman and Managing Director of Tube Investments (T.I.) and one of Britain's leading 20th-century industrialists.
Stedeford began his education at Shebbear College
in North Devon
. The family frequently moved as Charles Stedeford's ministry took him to different parts of the country and Stedeford finished his education at the King Edward VI Aston
in Birmingham
.
In 1917, he decided to play a more active role in the First World War
and was commissioned in the Royal Naval Air Service
, tasked as a balloon forward air observer, a somewhat static and highly dangerous assignment, even by the standards of other First World War military duties.
At the end of the war, he returned to Birmingham and went into partnership to form a motor dealership called Reeve and Stedeford. It had premises in Broad Street, which was then the main route to Edgbaston
, where the wealthiest citizens had their homes. It specialised in limousines and sports cars, rapidly becoming successful.
He was invited to sit on the Boards of the National Provincial Bank
(subsequently National Westminster Bank
), as Deputy Chairman; the Atlas Assurance Company; the Rank Organisation
; and the District Bank.
During his time running T.I., the company diversified from its reliance on steel tubes into the manufacture of bicycles (Raleigh), domestic products and appliances, aluminium products, precision engineering
equipment, motor control equipment and switching equipment (Simplex-GE
), gas cookers and water heaters, among many other products.
One interesting but short-lived operation was the development of the Swallow Doretti
sports car. Only about 275 vehicles were made before complaints were received from T.I. clients in the car manufacturing business. Although it was a superior product to its competition, T.I. felt it might be politic not to aggravate some of the larger clients of its steel and aluminium business. Despite recognising the Doretti's qualities, Stedeford showed his legendary toughness and shut the operation down, transferring the employees to other parts of the T.I. group.
Internationally, operations were started in Asia, the Americas and Europe. One of these,
TI of India
Ltd — a joint venture with the Murugappa Group
— led to a highly successful partnership and to one of the largest industrial groups in India
.
A major hospital serving the Ambattur
region near Madras in southern India, The Sir Ivan Stedeford Hospital
, was a direct result of this close partnership.
In 1954, he was created a Knight Commander of the British Empire
(KBE).
in the United Kingdom, in the Aluminium War, when Tube Investments, allied with Reynolds Metals
of the United States
and advised by Siegmund George Warburg
, won the battle for British Aluminium, headed by Lord Portal.
Ranged against Stedeford were the vast majority of the blue chip investment houses of the City of London
. The battle for British Aluminium was won in the end by Tube Investments/Reynolds Metals' superior bid; the totally inept way Portal and his backers (Hambros Bank
, Cazenove's among nearly 30 others) handled the press, and Portal's high-handedness with his own investors (secretly trying to sell British Aluminium at a fraction of the price Stedeford had offered), made this a defining moment in the City's history.
At one critical meeting between T.I. and British Aluminium late on a Friday, Portal stood up and declared, "My bankers will take over from here". Stedeford shot back, "If you leave Lord Portal, I leave!" Portal sat back down. On another occasion, while rebuffing the T.I. bid, Portal bizarrely referred to "people unaware of the mysteries of negotiations between great companies..."
Harold Macmillan
's Government was encouraged to become involved on British Aluminium's side (he knew both Portal and Stedeford well), but declined, realizing that change was needed and that any intervention on the side of British Aluminium would be politically disastrous, in light of Portal's total disregard of his investors' best interests.
The Aluminium War rewrote the way the City conducted its business in relation to shareholders and investors, resulting in a more open and competitive landscape. It was the first stage in a process that led to the Big Bang reform of 1986, allowing the City to dominate the international finance
markets.
, having been a member of the Beveridge Committee on its structure. He was also a member of the boards of the Bank of England
and the UK Atomic Energy Authority. He was on the council of the Department of Scientific Research and a member of the board of the Commonwealth Development Finance Company.
He was invited in 1960 by the Prime Minister
, Harold Macmillan
, to become the Chairman of an Advisory Group on the state of British transport, which became known as the Stedeford Committee. Also on the Committee was Dr Richard Beeching
, and the two men clashed on a number of issues connected with Beeching's proposals to reduce drastically the rail infrastructure of Great Britain. In spite of questions being asked in Parliament
, Sir Ivan's report was not published at the time. A set of proposals for the future of the railways that came to be known as the "Beeching Plan" was adopted by the Government, resulting in the closure of a third of the rail network and the scrapping of a third of a million freight wagons, much as Stedeford had foreseen and fought against.
Stedeford's knighthood was advanced to Knight Grand Cross
(GBE) in 1961 for public service.
Though he always looked upon the welfare of all employees as a major charge there was no paternalism in his attitude. He expected every employee to make his or her own effort. When this was done, they were given every encouragement to develop to the full extent of their ability. This encouragement took the form of many schemes sponsored by him, such as comprehensive training up to free university for the outstandingly talented. T.I.'s residential training centre was the first of its kind in the country. He also sponsored pensions and free life assurance for all employees, at a time when such benefits were rare." (The Times
obituary – 11 February 1975)
Stedeford married Gwendoline Aston in 1923, and they had three daughters. He enjoyed country pursuits, especially fox hunting. He was an Honorable Kentucky Colonel
.
He died near Stratford-upon-Avon
, aged 78.
Post Script
Sir Ivan was the architect of the sale of Hercules Cycle and Motor Company Ltd to TI in the forties. He was a close neighbour of Sir Edmund Crane at Lapworth and it is said that the deal was done over the garden fence! Sir Edmund later claimed his company had been 'given away'.
Hercules information is on www.madeinbirmingham.org
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(28 January 1897 – 9 February 1975) was a British
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...
industrialist and philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
.
Stedeford was Chairman and Managing Director of Tube Investments (T.I.) and one of Britain's leading 20th-century industrialists.
Education
Stedeford was the son of the Reverend Charles Stedeford, who served as President of the United Methodist Conference in 1928.Stedeford began his education at Shebbear College
Shebbear College
Shebbear College is a co-educational Methodist public school located in Shebbear, Devon, 39 miles from the county seat of Exeter, in the South West region of the United Kingdom and is one of a group of independent boarding schools that form part of the Methodist Church's involvement in...
in North Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
. The family frequently moved as Charles Stedeford's ministry took him to different parts of the country and Stedeford finished his education at the King Edward VI Aston
King Edward VI Aston
King Edward VI Aston School is a selective, all-boys' grammar school and specialist Sports College. The school, designed by Birmingham architect J.A. Chatwin, opened in 1883 and is still located on its original site, in the Aston area of Birmingham, England....
in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
.
Early career
Stedeford left school in 1913 to become an engineering apprentice at Wolseley Motors Ltd.In 1917, he decided to play a more active role in the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and was commissioned in the Royal Naval Air Service
Royal Naval Air Service
The Royal Naval Air Service or RNAS was the air arm of the Royal Navy until near the end of the First World War, when it merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form a new service , the Royal Air Force...
, tasked as a balloon forward air observer, a somewhat static and highly dangerous assignment, even by the standards of other First World War military duties.
At the end of the war, he returned to Birmingham and went into partnership to form a motor dealership called Reeve and Stedeford. It had premises in Broad Street, which was then the main route to Edgbaston
Edgbaston
Edgbaston is an area in the city of Birmingham in England. It is also a formal district, managed by its own district committee. The constituency includes the smaller Edgbaston ward and the wards of Bartley Green, Harborne and Quinton....
, where the wealthiest citizens had their homes. It specialised in limousines and sports cars, rapidly becoming successful.
Industrialist
In 1928, Stedeford was persuaded to join Tubes Ltd, the precursor of the small Midlands company Tube Investments Ltd, as sales director. His progress in T.I. was rapid. In three years he became joint Managing Director of Tubes Ltd., and two years later (1933) was elected to the T.I. board. He was elected Group Managing Director of T.I. in 1935 and in 1944 added the Chairmanship. He held the combined posts for the next 19 years, during which time T.I. developed from a small local engineering company into one of the biggest companies in the world.He was invited to sit on the Boards of the National Provincial Bank
National Provincial Bank
National Provincial Bank was a British retail bank which operated in England and Wales from 1833 until its merger into the National Westminster Bank in 1970; it remains a registered company but is dormant...
(subsequently National Westminster Bank
National Westminster Bank
National Westminster Bank Plc, commonly known as NatWest, is the largest retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom and has been part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc since 2000. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group is ranked as the second largest bank in the world by assets...
), as Deputy Chairman; the Atlas Assurance Company; the Rank Organisation
Rank Organisation
The Rank Organisation was a British entertainment company formed during 1937 and absorbed in 1996 by The Rank Group Plc. It was the largest and most vertically-integrated film company in Britain, owning production, distribution and exhibition facilities....
; and the District Bank.
During his time running T.I., the company diversified from its reliance on steel tubes into the manufacture of bicycles (Raleigh), domestic products and appliances, aluminium products, precision engineering
Precision engineering
Precision engineering is a subdiscipline of electrical engineering, electronics engineering, mechanical engineering, and optical engineering concerned with designing machines, fixtures, and other structures that have exceptionally low tolerances, are repeatable, and are stable over time...
equipment, motor control equipment and switching equipment (Simplex-GE
Gê
Gê are the people who spoke Ge languages of the northern South American Caribbean coast and Brazil. In Brazil the Gê were found in Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Piaui, Mato Grosso, Goias, Tocantins, Maranhão, and as far south as Paraguay....
), gas cookers and water heaters, among many other products.
One interesting but short-lived operation was the development of the Swallow Doretti
Swallow Doretti
The Swallow Doretti was a two-seater sports car based on the Triumph TR2, made between 1954 and 1955.The marque came from Swallow Coachbuilding Co. Ltd. which was sold in 1945 by Jaguar to the Helliwell Group which was taken over in 1946 by the British conglomerate, the Tube Investments Group...
sports car. Only about 275 vehicles were made before complaints were received from T.I. clients in the car manufacturing business. Although it was a superior product to its competition, T.I. felt it might be politic not to aggravate some of the larger clients of its steel and aluminium business. Despite recognising the Doretti's qualities, Stedeford showed his legendary toughness and shut the operation down, transferring the employees to other parts of the T.I. group.
Internationally, operations were started in Asia, the Americas and Europe. One of these,
TI of India
TI Cycles of India
TI Cycles of India is a bicycle manufacturer based in India. Established in 1949 by the Murugappa Group and Sir Ivan Stedeford of Tube Investments Group in UK, TI Cycles is the maker of brands like Hercules, BSA and Philips cycles. It has manufacturing plants at Ambattur near Chennai, Nasik in...
Ltd — a joint venture with the Murugappa Group
Murugappa Group
The Murugappa Group is conglomerate company headquartered in Chennai, India, with a valuation of Rs. 17,051 crores . It is a market leader in diverse areas of business including Engineering, Abrasives, Finance, General insurance, Bicycles, Sugar, Farm Inputs, Fertilizers, Plantations, Bio-products...
— led to a highly successful partnership and to one of the largest industrial groups in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
.
A major hospital serving the Ambattur
Ambattur
-Administration:Ambattur comes under the new Sriperumbudur parliamentary constituency. It was previously under the North Chennai parliamentary constituency and along with Villivakkam, it was the largest assembly constituency in India. The delimitation process of assembly constituencies has given...
region near Madras in southern India, The Sir Ivan Stedeford Hospital
Sir Ivan Stedeford Hospital
Sir Ivan Stedeford Hospital is a modern multi-speciality hospital in Ambattur near Chennai, India. The hospital is named after Sir Ivan Stedeford, the British industrialist and philanthropist. The hospital was opened in 25 February 1966, and managed by the AMM Foundation. It is situated 3 km from...
, was a direct result of this close partnership.
In 1954, he was created a Knight Commander of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(KBE).
The Aluminium War
By 1958, Tube Investments had become a huge company with interests worldwide - in 1960 it had profits of £27 million. In 1958 Stedeford conducted the first hostile takeover of a public companyPublic company
This is not the same as a Government-owned corporation.A public company or publicly traded company is a limited liability company that offers its securities for sale to the general public, typically through a stock exchange, or through market makers operating in over the counter markets...
in the United Kingdom, in the Aluminium War, when Tube Investments, allied with Reynolds Metals
Reynolds Metals
Reynolds Group Holdings is an American packaging company with its roots in the Reynolds Metals Company, was the second largest aluminum company in the United States, and the third largest in the world...
of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and advised by Siegmund George Warburg
Siegmund George Warburg
Siegmund George Warburg was a member of the prominent Jewish-German-American-British Warburg family. He played a prominent role in the development of merchant banking.-Career:...
, won the battle for British Aluminium, headed by Lord Portal.
Ranged against Stedeford were the vast majority of the blue chip investment houses of the City of London
City of London
The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...
. The battle for British Aluminium was won in the end by Tube Investments/Reynolds Metals' superior bid; the totally inept way Portal and his backers (Hambros Bank
Hambros Bank
Hambros Bank was a British bank based in London. The Hambros bank was a specialist in Anglo-Scandinavian business with expertise in trade finance and investment banking, and was the sole banker to the Scandinavian kingdoms for many years...
, Cazenove's among nearly 30 others) handled the press, and Portal's high-handedness with his own investors (secretly trying to sell British Aluminium at a fraction of the price Stedeford had offered), made this a defining moment in the City's history.
At one critical meeting between T.I. and British Aluminium late on a Friday, Portal stood up and declared, "My bankers will take over from here". Stedeford shot back, "If you leave Lord Portal, I leave!" Portal sat back down. On another occasion, while rebuffing the T.I. bid, Portal bizarrely referred to "people unaware of the mysteries of negotiations between great companies..."
Harold Macmillan
Harold Macmillan
Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC was Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 January 1957 to 18 October 1963....
's Government was encouraged to become involved on British Aluminium's side (he knew both Portal and Stedeford well), but declined, realizing that change was needed and that any intervention on the side of British Aluminium would be politically disastrous, in light of Portal's total disregard of his investors' best interests.
The Aluminium War rewrote the way the City conducted its business in relation to shareholders and investors, resulting in a more open and competitive landscape. It was the first stage in a process that led to the Big Bang reform of 1986, allowing the City to dominate the international finance
International finance
International finance is the branch of economics that studies the dynamics of exchange rates, foreign investment, global financial system, and how these affect international trade. It also studies international projects, international investments and capital flows, and trade deficits. It includes...
markets.
Public service
He was a Governor of the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, having been a member of the Beveridge Committee on its structure. He was also a member of the boards of the Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
and the UK Atomic Energy Authority. He was on the council of the Department of Scientific Research and a member of the board of the Commonwealth Development Finance Company.
He was invited in 1960 by the Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
, Harold Macmillan
Harold Macmillan
Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton, OM, PC was Conservative Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 January 1957 to 18 October 1963....
, to become the Chairman of an Advisory Group on the state of British transport, which became known as the Stedeford Committee. Also on the Committee was Dr Richard Beeching
Richard Beeching
Richard Beeching, Baron Beeching , commonly known as Doctor Beeching, was chairman of British Railways and a physicist and engineer...
, and the two men clashed on a number of issues connected with Beeching's proposals to reduce drastically the rail infrastructure of Great Britain. In spite of questions being asked in Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
, Sir Ivan's report was not published at the time. A set of proposals for the future of the railways that came to be known as the "Beeching Plan" was adopted by the Government, resulting in the closure of a third of the rail network and the scrapping of a third of a million freight wagons, much as Stedeford had foreseen and fought against.
Stedeford's knighthood was advanced to Knight Grand Cross
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(GBE) in 1961 for public service.
Character
"Sir Ivan always carried his responsibility with a lack of fuss and drama. A tall, slim man, with a rich sense of humour and a scholarly turn of mind he possessed remarkable reserves of energy. He was an engaging conversationalist and writer and a doughty debater.Though he always looked upon the welfare of all employees as a major charge there was no paternalism in his attitude. He expected every employee to make his or her own effort. When this was done, they were given every encouragement to develop to the full extent of their ability. This encouragement took the form of many schemes sponsored by him, such as comprehensive training up to free university for the outstandingly talented. T.I.'s residential training centre was the first of its kind in the country. He also sponsored pensions and free life assurance for all employees, at a time when such benefits were rare." (The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
obituary – 11 February 1975)
Retirement
He retired from active management of T.I. in 1963, assuming the title of Life President, having run the company for over 25 years, and having built it into a global industrial powerhouse.Stedeford married Gwendoline Aston in 1923, and they had three daughters. He enjoyed country pursuits, especially fox hunting. He was an Honorable Kentucky Colonel
Kentucky colonel
Kentucky colonel is the highest title of honor bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Commissions for Kentucky colonels are given by the Governor and the Secretary of State to individuals in recognition of noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to a community, state or the nation...
.
He died near Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon is a market town and civil parish in south Warwickshire, England. It lies on the River Avon, south east of Birmingham and south west of Warwick. It is the largest and most populous town of the District of Stratford-on-Avon, which uses the term "on" to indicate that it covers...
, aged 78.
Post Script
Sir Ivan was the architect of the sale of Hercules Cycle and Motor Company Ltd to TI in the forties. He was a close neighbour of Sir Edmund Crane at Lapworth and it is said that the deal was done over the garden fence! Sir Edmund later claimed his company had been 'given away'.
Hercules information is on www.madeinbirmingham.org
External links
- Gourvish
- Stedeford Report
- Sir Ivan of Ambattur
- Jim Perkins
- BBC Governors (pdf)
- Looking Back from `Moulmein'
- Tearing up the Tracks
- Margaret Thatcher Foundation
- History of the Swallow Doretti (pdf)
- Young Obit - The formidable Sir Ivan Stedeford
- AMM Foundation
- The Stentiford Family Magazine
- 1989-11-27/Writtens-3.html/ Hansard
- 1961 news - TI profit for 1960, announcement & commentary
- The Struggle for British Aluminium by Hatch & Forbes
- National Archives - Corres. Stedeford-Robertson
- Beveridge Committee - BBC
- House of Commons debate on set-up of Stedeford Committee - Hansard 13 April 1960