Sir Hugh Walter Kingwell Wontner (22 October 1908 – 25 November 1992) was an English hotelier and politician. He was managing director of the

Savoy Savoy (; )  is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...

hotel group from 1941 to 1979 and its chairman from 1948 to 1984, continuing as president until his death. He was also chairman of the

Savoy Theatre The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre was designed by C. J. Phipps for Richard D'Oyly Carte and opened on 10 October 1881 on a site previously occupied by the Savoy ...

from 1948 until his death. In 1973–74, he was

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the Mayors in England, mayor of the City of London, England, and the Leader of the council, leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded Order of precedence, precedence over a ...

. Wontner was appointed general secretary of the Hotels and Restaurants Association of Great Britain in 1933 at the age of 25. He shepherded the Savoy hotel group properties through the difficult World War II years, restoring their lustre after the war, and successfully preserved the group's independence against take-over bids in the 1950s, 1970s and 1980s. As chairman of the

, he personally supervised its rebuilding after it was destroyed by fire in 1990. Wontner was closely involved in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

as a leading member of two of its ancient

guilds A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...

and as

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

, chief magistrate and Lord Mayor. He was knighted in 1972.

Biography

Early years

Wontner was the elder son of the actor-manager

Arthur Wontner Arthur Wontner (21 January 1875 – 10 July 1960) was a British actor best known for playing Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's master detective Sherlock Holmes in five films from 1931 to 1937. Career Wontner's acting career began on the stage where he ...

and his first wife, the actress Rose Pendennis, whose real name was Rosecleer Alice Amelia Blanche, ''née'' Kingwell.Baker, Anne Pimlott
"Wontner, Sir Hugh Walter Kingwell (1908–1992)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 16 September 2009 He was born Hugh Walter Kingwell Wontner Smith, but his father changed the family name in 1909, dropping the "Smith". Wontner was educated at

Oundle School Oundle School is a public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding school, boarding and day school) for pupils 11–18 situated in the market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire ...

and in France, but was not, he said later, an academic pupil.''The Times'', obituary, 27 November 1992 After working in the

Hôtel Meurice Le Meurice () is a Brunei-owned five-star luxury hotel in the 1st arrondissement of Paris opposite the Tuileries Garden, between Place de la Concorde and the Musée du Louvre on the Rue de Rivoli. From the Rue de Rivoli, it stretches to the Rue ...

in Paris, Wontner joined the secretariat of the

London Chamber of Commerce The London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) is a business organization based in London, founded in 1882. It provides support for its members’ businesses through services and advocates on behalf of London’s business community. The Cham ...

from 1927 to 1933. In 1933, at the age of 25, he was appointed general secretary of the Hotels and Restaurants Association of Great Britain. In 1936 Wontner married Catherine Irvin. They had two sons and one daughter.

Savoy Group

Wontner's work with the Hotels and Restaurants Association brought him into close contact with Sir George Reeves-Smith, managing director of the Savoy hotel group, who was the association's founder chairman. Reeves-Smith was impressed by Wontner's administrative abilities, and, as ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' noted, "the young man had other qualities also which appealed to the veteran managing director: a discerning palate for wines, a taste for travel, and a consuming passion for the theatre.... Wontner must have seemed ideal Savoy material." In 1938 he invited Wontner to join the group as his assistant. When Reeves-Smith died at the age of 77 in May 1941,

Rupert D'Oyly Carte Rupert D'Oyly Carte (; 3 November 1876 – 12 September 1948) was an English hotelier, theatre owner and impresario, best known as proprietor of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and Savoy Hotel from 1913 to 1948. Son of the impresario and hotelie ...

, the Savoy chairman, had no doubts about the succession and appointed the 32-year-old Wontner as managing director of the Savoy group, which included the

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California *George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer to ...

and

Claridges Claridge's is a 5-star hotels, 5-star hotel at the corner of Brook Street, London, Brook Street and Davies Street in Mayfair, London. The hotel is owned and managed by the Maybourne Hotel Group. History Founding Claridge's traces its origins to ...

hotels as well as the Savoy. Carte died in 1948, and as his heir, Bridget D'Oyly Carte, did not wish to become chairman, the Savoy board elected Wontner, the first person to combine the roles of chairman and managing director since the Savoy's founder,

Richard D'Oyly Carte Richard D'Oyly Carte (; 3 May 1844 – 3 April 1901) was an English talent agent, theatrical impresario, composer, and hotelier during the latter half of the Victorian era. He built two of London's theatres and a hotel empire, while also establi ...

. Wontner remained managing director until 1979 and chairman until 1984. He was elected life president of the group in 1990. When Wontner took over, World War II was at its height, and he and his staff had to cope with bomb damage, food rationing, manpower shortage, and, at first, a serious decline in the number of foreign visitors. After the U.S. entered the war, business picked up as the Savoy Hotel became a favourite of American officers, diplomats, journalists and others. The hotel became a meeting place for war leaders:

Lord Mountbatten Admiral of the Fleet (Royal Navy), Admiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma (born Prince Louis of Battenberg; 25 June 1900 – 27 August 1979), commonly known as Lord Mountbatten, was ...

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French general and statesman who led the Free France, Free French Forces against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government of the French Re ...

Jan Masaryk Jan Garrigue Masaryk (14 September 1886 – 10 March 1948) was a Czech diplomat and politician who served as the Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia from 1940 to 1948. American journalist John Gunther described Masaryk as "a brave, honest, turbule ...

and General Wavell were among the regular Grill Room diners, and the hotel's air-raid shelters were "the smartest in London". Wontner co-operated fully with the government's wartime restrictions, helping to draw up an order imposing a five shilling limit on the price of a restaurant mealAbout £10 in 2009 terms: se
"Five Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a UK Pound Amount, 1830 to Present"
/ref> and advising the government on managing the change from wartime rationing to peacetime conditions. After the war, Wontner set about restoring the standards of the Savoy group to their pre-war glory, investing a great deal of capital in repairing war damage, upgrading facilities and enhancing the prestige of the hotels in the group. Under his control Claridges became a home in London for numerous statesmen, from President Tito and

King Hussein Hussein bin Talal (14 November 1935 – 7 February 1999) was King of Jordan from 1952 until his death in 1999. As a member of the Hashemite dynasty, the royal family of Jordan since 1921, Hussein was traditionally considered a 40th-generati ...

Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ...

, while the Savoy attracted such show business stars as

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

and

Sophia Loren Sofia Costanza Brigida Villani Scicolone (; born 20 September 1934), known professionally as Sophia Loren ( , ), is an Italian actress, active in her native country and the United States. With a career spanning over 70 years, she is one of the ...

and was visited by British royalty including

George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until Death and state funeral of George VI, his death in 1952 ...

and

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

. Under Wontner's leadership, the group bought the

Connaught Hotel The Connaught is a five-star luxury hotel located on the corner of Carlos Place and Mount Street in Mayfair, London.Darwin Porter, Danforth Prince, ''London 2010'', Frommer's, New York City: John Wiley & Sons, 2011, p. 14/ref> The hotel is owne ...

in 1956, and in the early 1960s decided to relocate the Berkeley from

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, England, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road (England), A4 road that connects central London to ...

to new premises in

Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...

for an opening in 1972. Wontner was cautious about expanding the Savoy group internationally, concerned that over-expansion might prejudice standards, but in 1970 he added the Lancaster Hotel in Paris to the group.

Business methods

Throughout his career, according to ''The Times'', "Wontner was admired by business associates for his acumen, integrity and loyalty while being accused by his critics of aloofness and arrogance. Beneath a genial manner there certainly lay steely determination and a fair degree of ruthlessness." Under his leadership, the Savoy group successfully fought off several hostile takeover bids using, on occasion, controversial stratagems to defeat the bidder.''The Economist'', 12 December 1953, p. 45 In 1953 the entrepreneur

Charles Clore Sir Charles Clore (26 December 1904 – 26 July 1979) was a British financier, retail and property magnate, and philanthropist. Biography Clore was of Lithuanian Jewish background, the son of Israel Clore, a Whitechapel tailor who had emigrated ...

attempted to buy the Savoy group, and when his bid was rejected he sold his shares to the property developer Harold Samuel, who planned to redevelop the Piccadilly site of the Berkeley Hotel. Wontner temporarily transferred possession of the freehold of the Berkeley from the Savoy group to its staff pension fund until the bid was withdrawn. After this first attempted takeover, Wontner insured against future bids by issuing new shares in the group which carried 40 times as many votes each as the normal shares. These special shares were held by Bridget D'Oyly Carte, Wontner and their allies. The financial magazine ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'' found this ploy outrageous: "On grounds of principle, it is difficult to find condemnation too severe for what the Savoy Hotel board have done. They have taken, without the consent of their shareholders, a valuable property in which the shareholders have an equity and of which the best use is open to dispute. They have made it impossible for the shareholders ... to exert any control in future over the disposition of that property." Nevertheless, Wontner's share structure enabled the board to defeat later takeover bids by Trafalgar House and Trusthouse Forte. During the latter,

Charles Forte Charles Carmine Forte, Baron Forte (26 November 1908 – 28 February 2007) was an Italian-born Scottish hotelier who founded the leisure and hotels conglomerate that ultimately became the Forte Group. Early life Charles Forte was born as Ca ...

managed to acquire 69 per cent of the group's shares, but only 42 per cent of the voting rights, and was furious at being outwitted by Wontner, whom he accused of having "a great gift for supercilious indifference". Having thwarted this final takeover bid, Wontner retired from his executive roles and accepted the position of president of the Savoy group.

Other interests and honours

Wontner had many other interests, prominent among which was the City of London, where he was at various times the Master of two

Livery Companies A livery company is a type of guild or professional association that originated in medieval times in London, England. Livery companies comprise London's ancient and modern trade associations and guilds, almost all of which are Style (form of a ...

, an

of the

City Corporation Municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including (but not necessarily limited to) cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. The term can also be used to describe municipally ow ...

, chief magistrate and, in 1973–74,

Lord Mayor Lord mayor is a title of a mayor of what is usually a major city in a Commonwealth realm, with special recognition bestowed by the sovereign. However, the title or an equivalent is present in other countries, including forms such as "high mayor". A ...

. He advised the royal household on its catering at

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...

and elsewhere, and in 1953 was appointed Clerk of the Royal Kitchens – the first holder of the post since the early nineteenth century. He also inherited his father's love of the theatre and served as a member of the board of trustees of the

D'Oyly Carte Opera Company The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company is a professional British light opera company that, from the 1870s until 1982, staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere. The ...

and of the committee of the

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London, England, and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings a ...

."Wontner, Sir Hugh (Walter Kingwell)"
''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edition, Oxford University Press, December 2007, accessed 16 September 2009 He was proud of being a member of the

Old Stagers ThOld Stagers (OS)is an amateur theatre group, founded in 1842 by Hon. Frederick Ponsonby (later Earl of Bessborough) to perform during Kent's annual Canterbury Cricket Week. Originally the Canterbury Old Stagers, it took its current name in 1851 ...

, England's oldest amateur dramatic society, and of his association with the

, of which he was chairman and managing director from 1948 until his death. When the theatre was destroyed by fire in 1990 Wontner personally supervised the reconstruction. The topping-out ceremony gave him great pleasure, and only a few days before his death he was looking forward to presiding over the re-opening in 1993. He was the recipient of many international honours, including Honorary Citizen of St Emilion, 1974; Freeman of the Seychelles, 1974; Order of Cisneros (Spain), 1964; Officer, L'Étoile Equatoriale (Gabon), 1970; Médaille de Vermeil, City of Paris, 1972; Ordre de l'Étoile Civique (France), 1972; Officier du Mérite Agricole (France), 1973; Commander,

National Order of the Leopard The National Order of the Leopard () was the highest honorific decoration of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1966 until 2002 when it was discontinued and replaced by the Order of the National Heroes Kabila-Lumumba. It was instituted on ...

(Zaire), 1974; Knight Commander,

Order of the Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog () is a Denmark, Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V of Denmark, Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the Order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single cla ...

(Denmark), 1974;

Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia The Most Esteemed Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia () is a Malaysian federal award presented for meritorious service to the country and awarded by the sovereign. The order was instituted on 15 April 1966 and gazetted on 30 June 1966 ...

, 1974; Knight Commander, Royal Swedish Order of the Polar Star, 1980; and a Knight of the

Venerable Order of Saint John The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (), commonly known as the Order of St John, and also known as St John International, is an order of chivalry constituted in 1888 by royal charter from Queen Victoria and dedica ...

, 1973. His British honours were MVO 1950, CVO 1969,

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

1972, and GBE 1974. Wontner died of a heart attack in London, aged 84.

Notes