Francis Anthony Armstrong Carnwath

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(26 May 1940 – 26 June 2020) was a British banker and chairman of many arts and heritage organisations.

Biography

Francis Carnwath began his career with

Barings Bank Barings Bank was a British merchant bank based in London, and one of England's oldest merchant banks after Berenberg Bank, Barings' close collaborator and German representative. It was founded in 1762 by Francis Baring, a British-born member of ...

, rising to become a director. Then he served as deputy director of the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

1990-1994 where he played a leading role in the identification of the

Bankside Power Station Bankside Power Station is a decommissioned electricity generating station located on the south bank of the River Thames, in the Bankside area of the Borough of Southwark, London. It generated electricity from 1891 to 1981. It was also used ...

as the home of the new

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It ...

gallery. In 1995 he became Acting Director of the

National Lottery Heritage Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

. He then served as Director of the newly created Greenwich Foundation for the

Royal Naval College Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ci ...

from 1997 to 2002, with the task of securing financial stability and readying the Palace buildings, vacated by the Royal Navy, for occupation by

Greenwich University The University of Greenwich is a public university located in London and Kent, United Kingdom. Previous names include Woolwich Polytechnic and Thames Polytechnic. The university's main campus is at the Old Royal Naval College, which along with it ...

and

Trinity College of Music Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music and dance conservatoire based in London, England. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. The conservatoire has ...

. Alongside this, Carnwath was chairman of several charitable organisations. He was Trustee and later Deputy Chairman of

Shelter Shelter is a small building giving temporary protection from bad weather or danger. Shelter may also refer to: Places * Port Shelter, Hong Kong * Shelter Bay (disambiguation), various locations * Shelter Cove (disambiguation), various locat ...

1968–1976; Treasurer of

Voluntary Service Overseas Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) is a not-for-profit international development organization charity with a vision for "a fair world for everyone" and a mission to "create lasting change through volunteering". VSO delivers development impact throug ...

1979–1984; Chairman of the

Spitalfields Historic Buildings Trust The Spitalfields Historic Buildings Trust, also known as the Spitalfields Trust, is a British architectural conservation charity. It originated in the Spitalfields area of London, although it also operates elsewhere in England and Wales. The trust's ...

1984–2000; Chairman of the English Heritage

Blue Plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...

Panel 1995–2002; Deputy Chairman of the

Whitechapel Gallery The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the f ...

1994–2000; Master of the

Worshipful Company of Musicians The Worshipful Company of Musicians is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. Its history dates back to at least 1350. Originally a specialist guild for musicians, its role became an anachronism in the 18th century, when the centre of ...

1995–1996; Chairman of the Musgrave Kinley Outsider Trust 1999–2011; Treasurer of the

Charles Darwin Trust The Charles Darwin Trust is a British educational charity. The trust was founded in 1999 by Stephen Keynes. The trust was part of a campaign with other organizations to back the bid to make Down House a World Heritage Site A World Heritage ...

1999–2005; Trustee of the

Royal Armouries Museum The Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, is a national museum which displays the National Collection of Arms and Armour. It is part of the Royal Armouries family of museums, with other sites at the Royal Armouries' traditio ...

2000–2007; Trustee then Chairman of the Spitalfields Festival 2003–2010; Chairman of the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

Architectural Panel 2004–2012; Chairman of the

Yorkshire Sculpture Park The Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) is an art gallery, with both open-air and indoor exhibition spaces, in West Bretton, Wakefield, in West Yorkshire, England. It shows work by British and international artists, including Henry Moore and Barba ...

2004–2012; Chairman of Thames 21 2004–2015. He was Trustee and later Chairman of the Phillimore Estates, London, from 1983 to 2015. He was appointed a

in 1997.

Personal life

He was the eldest of six children of the banker Sir

Andrew Carnwath Sir Andrew Hunter Carnwath KCVO DL (26 October 1909 – 29 December 1995) was a British banker. He was managing director, Baring Brothers & Co. Ltd, 1955–1974; and chairman of the London Multinational Bank, 1971–1974. He was educated ...

, KCVO, DL and his first wife Kathleen Marianne (née Armstrong). A younger brother is

Robert Carnwath, Lord Carnwath of Notting Hill Robert John Anderson Carnwath, Lord Carnwath of Notting Hill, CVO, PC (born 15 March 1945) is a former British Supreme Court judge. The son of Sir Andrew Carnwath KCVO, Robert Carnwath was educated at Eton College, where he won the Newcas ...

, a former

Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom are the judges of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom other than the president and the deputy president. The Supreme Court is the highest court of the United Kingdom for civil and crimin ...

. Carnwath married Penelope Rose (they later separated); they had two daughters and one son. In 2010, Carnwath and his partner

Caroline Wiseman Caroline Wiseman (born 12 March 1954) is a British art dealer and author. She has had success selling prints by old masters such as Picasso, Matisse, and Braque and modern artists such as Howard Hodgkin, Patrick Heron, Elisabeth Frink, and Terry ...

founded the Aldeburgh Beach Lookout, a visual arts venue in

Aldeburgh Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town in the county of Suffolk, England. Located to the north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the composer Benjamin Britten and remains the centre of the international Aldeb ...

, Suffolk.

References

* 'CARNWATH, Francis Anthony Armstrong', Who's Who 2011, A & C Black, 2011; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2010 ; online edn, Oct 201
accessed 22 May 2011
* http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/browse/c/17745/Francis%20Anthony%20Armstrong+CARNWATH.aspx 1940 births 2020 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire {{UK-business-bio-stub