Sir Maxwell Joseph
FRPSL
The Royal Philatelic Society London (RPSL) is the oldest philatelic society in the world. It was founded on 10 April 1869 as ''The Philatelic Society, London''. The society runs a postal museum, the Spear Museum of Philatelic History, at its he ...
(formerly ''Max'' Joseph) (31 May 1910, London – 22 September 1982,
Kensington
Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...
) was the founder of
Grand Metropolitan plc
Grand Metropolitan plc was a leisure, manufacturing and property conglomerate headquartered in England. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it merged with Guinness plc to form D ...
, a large British hotel group.
Career
Educated at Pitman's Business School,
[Joseph, Sir Maxwell]
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from History of the British Isles, British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') ...
'', 2013. Retrieved 25 November 2013. Joseph left school in 1926 to work in an
estate agent
An estate agent is a person or business in the United Kingdom that arranges the selling, renting, or managing of real estate, properties and other buildings. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a Letting agent, letting or manag ...
's office.
He lost his job and founded his own estate agent's business in 1930
before serving as a
lance corporal
Lance corporal is a military rank, used by many English-speaking armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organisations. It is below the rank of corporal.
Etymology
The presumed origin of the rank of lance corp ...
in the
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...
during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
[
He bought the Mandeville Hotel in London shortly after the War and, after buying up other hotels, built Grand Hotels (Mayfair) Ltd and then ]Grand Metropolitan
Grand Metropolitan plc was a leisure, manufacturing and property conglomerate headquartered in England. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it merged with Guinness plc to form ...
plc into a large international conglomerate before being knighted in 1981.[ In July 1982 he announced his intention to retire from the chairmanship the following March but died before his scheduled retirement date.][
He lived at Melksham Court in the ]Cotswolds
The Cotswolds ( ) is a region of central South West England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper River Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and the Vale of Evesham. The area is defined by the bedroc ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joseph, Maxwell
1910 births
1982 deaths
British philatelists
Businesspeople from London
Deaths from cancer in England
British hoteliers
Fellows of the Royal Philatelic Society London
Collectors from London
British people of Jewish descent
20th-century English businesspeople
British Army personnel of World War II
Royal Engineers soldiers
Military personnel from London