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