Sir Martin Wakefield Jacomb (11 November 1929 – 8 June 2024) was a Chancellor of the

University of Buckingham The University of Buckingham (UB) is a non-profit private university#United Kingdom, private university in Buckingham, England, and the oldest of the country's six private universities. It was founded as the University College at Buckingham (U ...

and Chairman of

Canary Wharf Group Canary Wharf Group plc is a British property company headquartered in London, England. It is the owner and developer of nearly of property at Canary Wharf and elsewhere in London. Over the last 10 years it has constructed more office space in ...

. He was a vice-chairman of

Kleinwort Benson Kleinwort Benson was a leading investment bank that offered a wide range of financial services from offices throughout the United Kingdom and Channel Islands. Two families, the Kleinworts and the Bensons, founded two different merchant banks in ...

Ltd, from 1976 to 1985, and a deputy chairman of

Barclays Bank Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services ...

between 1985 and 1993.

Life and career

Jacomb was born on 11 November 1929, and was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...

. He was called to the Bar at

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...

in 1955 and practised as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

until 1968 before embarking upon a successful career in business. In 1985, he was appointed

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 ...

by HM The Queen. In 1986, he described

insider trading Insider trading is the trading of a public company's stock or other securities (such as bonds or stock options) based on material, nonpublic information about the company. In various countries, some kinds of trading based on insider informati ...

as a "victimless crime." In 1998, he was appointed the third Chancellor of the University of Buckingham in succession to Baroness Thatcher, who in turn succeeded Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone. He was installed in 1999. According to the University of Buckingham, which is one of the two British private universities, "He acombis a strong believer in the need for universities to be independent of the government". He has written that if universities are "to nurture genuinely free and creative academic research" and "be the guardians of liberty which a free society needs" they must be independent of government funding. Jacomb wrote that the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

should become private in order to avoid an authoritarian government imposing restrictions on admissions. Further, the university's academics will only be able to challenge prevailing opinion if they are independent of government funding. Dependence on government funding, he argued, has had disastrous effects on the higher education sector in continental Europe. Jacomb retired from the chancellorship in March 2010. He was succeeded by Lord Tanlaw. Jacomb died on 8 June 2024, at the age of 94.

Articles by Martin Jacomb

List of articles in ''The Spectator''List of articles in ''The Financial Times''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacomb, Martin 1929 births 2024 deaths Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford British bankers People educated at Eton College Members of the Inner Temple Knights Bachelor Fellows of King's College London People associated with the University of Buckingham British barristers Place of birth missing People of the British Council