Sir Dallas Gerald Mercer Bernard, 1st Baronet (22 March 188826 November 1975) was a British banker who served as Chairman of the

Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation HSBC Holdings plc ( zh, t_hk=滙豐; initialism from its founding member The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation) is a British universal bank and financial services group headquartered in London, England, with historical and business li ...

from 1906 to 1908.

Early life

Bernard was born on 22 March 1888. Bernards's parents were Edmund Bowen Bernard and Arabella Margaret Piercy. Bernard studied at

Stubbington House School Stubbington House School was founded in 1841 as a boys' preparatory school, originally located in the Hampshire village of Stubbington, around from the Solent. Stubbington House School was known by the sobriquet "the cradle of the Navy". The s ...

Fareham Fareham ( ) is a market town at the north-west tip of Portsmouth Harbour, between the cities of Portsmouth and Southampton in south east Hampshire, England. It gives its name to the Borough of Fareham. It was historically an important manufac ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. After Bernard held the rank of midshipman in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, he attended

Thames Nautical Training College The Thames Nautical Training College, as it is now called, is a school that trains officers for a seagoing career. It was, for over a hundred years, situated aboard ships named HMS ''Worcester''. London shipowners, marine insurance underwriters ...

Foots Cray Place Foots Cray Place was one of the four country houses built in England in the 18th century to a design inspired by Palladio's Villa Capra near Vicenza. Built in 1754 near Sidcup, Kent, Foots Cray Place was demolished in 1950 after a fire in 1949. ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

Career

Bernard arrived in the Far East and joined Jardine, Matheson & Co. by at least 1912, at which point he was working there as an assistant. He was chairman of the trustees of the Sailors' Home and on the Local General Committee of the Missions to Seamen in Hong Kong in the 1920s. He was the managing director of Jardine Matheson from 1928 to 1942. Bernard was also director of other companies such as the Chinese Central Railways between 1928 and 1942 and the

Alliance Assurance Company Sun Alliance Group plc was a large insurance business with its main offices in the City of London and later Horsham. It was created in 1959 by the merger of Sun Insurance, founded in 1710, and Alliance Assurance founded in 1824. In 1996 Sun Allia ...

between 1931 and 1942. Bernard was also the chairman of the

. During his time in Hong Kong he was appointed

Unofficial Member Unofficial Member is the name given to individuals who are members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong and Legislative Council of Hong Kong but who are not members of the Hong Kong Government. The terms "Unofficial" (or "non-official") and ...

of the Executive Council in 1926 and 1927 and

Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...

in 1926. He was on the Legislative Council's Standing Law Committee. Bernard became the director of the Bank of England from 1936 to 1949 and the

High Sheriff of the County of London Below is a list of sheriffs of the County of London, from the creation of the county in 1889 to its abolition in 1965: *1889–1890: Alfred de Rothschild, of Senmore Place *1890–1891: Sir James Whitehead, 1st Baronet, of Highlield H ...

from 1942 to 1943 and later on the Lieutenant of the City of London. After the war, he continued to serve the bank and rose to the deputy governor of the Bank of England in 1949 until 1954 when he left the bank. After leaving the Bank of England, Bernard joined the

Courtaulds Courtaulds was a United Kingdom-based manufacturer of fabric, clothing, artificial fibres, and chemicals. It was established in 1794 and became the world's leading man-made fibre production company before being broken up in 1990 into Courtauld ...

and became the director between 1954 and 1956 and between 1964 and 1965 and also the deputy-chairman from 1956 to 1962. He was also active in banking in the Middle East. In 1954, he was appointed chairman of the Jordan Currency Board, which became the sole authority entitled to issue

Jordanian dinar The Jordanian dinar (; ISO 4217, code: JOD; unofficially abbreviated as JD) has been the currency of Jordan since 1950. The dinar is divided into 100 qirsh (also called piastres) or 1000 fils (currency), fulus. Fils are effectively obsolete; howe ...

. He held the post until 1957 and continued as the chairman of the

British Bank of the Middle East HSBC Bank Middle East Limited (Arabic: إتش إس بي سي الشرق الأوسط) is the largest and most widely represented international bank in the Middle East. History The Imperial Bank of Persia (Persian: بانک شاهنشاهی ای ...

from 1954 until 1965. He was created 1st Baronet Bernard, of Snakemoor, in the

County of Southampton Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, Dorset to the west, and Wilt ...

on 27 January 1954.

Personal life

Bernard married Elizabeth "Betty" Addis, daughter of Sir

Charles Stewart Addis Sir Charles Stewart Addis KCMG (23 November 186114 December 1945) was a Scottish banker. Early life Addis was born on 23 November 1861 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was the son of Robina Scott ( Thorburn) Addis and the Rev. Thomas Addis, a minister ...

and Elizabeth Jane McIsaac on 16 November 1922. Bernard died on 26 November 1975 at age 87. Bernard and his wife have three children: Elizabeth Piercy Bernard (10 April 192429 November 1981), Sir Dallas Bernard, 2nd Bt. (born 14 December 1926), and Margaret Anne Bernard (6 June 19297 October 2010).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernard, Dallas Gerald Mercer 1888 births 1975 deaths Hong Kong bankers British bankers British expatriates in British Hong Kong British expatriates in China Members of the Executive Council of Hong Kong Members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong Jardines (company) Chairmen of HSBC People associated with the Bank of England Deputy governors of the Bank of England High sheriffs of the County of London Royal Navy officers Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom 20th-century English businesspeople