Sir Michael Owen Edwardes (11 October 1930 – 15 September 2019) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

business executive A business executive is a person responsible for running an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. Executives run companies or government agencies. They create plans to help their organizations gr ...

who held chairmanships at several companies - most notably motor manufacturer

British Leyland British Leyland was a British automotive engineering and manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate formed in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It wa ...

in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Education

Edwardes was born in

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha ( , ), formerly named Port Elizabeth, and colloquially referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipal ...

, and was matriculated from St. Andrew's College in 1947 before graduating from

Rhodes University Rhodes University () is a public research university located in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, Rhodes University is the prov ...

Career

Edwardes began his career in 1951 as a management trainee for battery manufacturer

Chloride The term chloride refers to a compound or molecule that contains either a chlorine anion (), which is a negatively charged chlorine atom, or a non-charged chlorine atom covalently bonded to the rest of the molecule by a single bond (). The pr ...

. In 1966, he served as the general manager of Alkaline Batteries, one of the group's operating companies at

Redditch Redditch is a town and non-metropolitan district with borough status in Worcestershire, England. It is located south of Birmingham, east of Bromsgrove, north-west of Alcester and north-east of Worcester. In 2021, the town had a population of ...

, Worcestershire, UK. He later joined the Chloride main board, became chief executive in 1971 and remained in that position until 1977. He was appointed to the UK's

National Enterprise Board The National Enterprise Board (NEB) was a United Kingdom government body. It was set up in 1975 by the Labour government of Harold Wilson, to support the government's interventionist approach to industry. In 1981 the Conservative government of M ...

, a quango whose role was to provide financing to large UK state-owned enterprises (or nationalised industries), including the country's ailing motor giant,

, when it was established in 1975. In 1977, he was appointed as chief executive of British Leyland, and within two weeks he became chairman as the company's board was 'pruned' from 13 to 7 members. In 1979, he was knighted in the

Queen's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the King's Official Birthday, reigning monarch's official birthday in each realm by granting various individuals appointment into Order (honour), national or Dynastic order of knighthood, dy ...

. The next year, he attracted criticism for a speech to the CBI Conference in which he said, "If the Cabinet do not have the wit and imagination to reconcile our industrial needs with the fact of

North Sea oil North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid petroleum and natural gas, produced from petroleum reservoirs beneath the North Sea. In the petroleum industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian ...

, they would do better to leave the bloody stuff in the ground". His tenure at British Leyland lasted until 1982, when he was replaced by

Harold Musgrove Harold John Musgrove (born 1930 in Birmingham) was the chairman of British Leyland's Austin Rover division between 1982–1986 and worked in several roles for the British National Health Service from 1991–2001. British Leyland Harold Musgrove ...

. In 1982, on his retirement from British Leyland as CEO, Edwardes was presented with a

British racing green British racing green, or BRG, is a colour similar to '' Brunswick green'', '' hunter green'', '' forest green'' or '' moss green'' ( RAL 6005). It takes its name from the green international motor racing colour of the United Kingdom. This origin ...

Jaguar XJS The Jaguar XJ-S (later called XJS) is a luxury car, luxury grand tourer manufactured and marketed by British car manufacturer Jaguar Cars from 1975 to 1996, in coupé, convertible#variations, fixed-profile and full convertible bodystyles. Ther ...

. He later had this car shipped to South Africa, where he used it for board meetings at General Motors South Africa in 1988. In 1984, he became chairman of computer manufacturer

ICL ICL may refer to: Companies and organizations * Idaho Conservation League, environmental organisation in the United States * Imperial College London, a UK university * Indian Confederation of Labour * Indian Cricket League * Inorganic Chemistry ...

, but resigned six months later when the company was acquired by

STC STC may refer to: Education * Saint Theresa's College (disambiguation), any of several institutions * St. Thomas' College, Matale, Sri Lanka * S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia, Sri Lanka * Scott Theological College, Kenya * Sha Tin College, H ...

. He then became chairman of

Dunlop Holdings Dunlop Ltd. (formerly Dunlop Rubber) was a British multinational company involved in the manufacture of various natural rubber goods. Its business was founded in 1889 by Harvey du Cros and he involved John Boyd Dunlop who had re-invented and d ...

until its 1985 sale to

BTR plc BTR plc was a British Multinational Corporation, multinational industrial Conglomerate (company), conglomerate company. It was headquartered in London, England. The company was originally founded in 1924 as the British Goodrich Rubber Co. Ltd ...

, briefly returned to Chloride as chairman in 1986, and in 1988 became non-executive chairman of

Charter Consolidated Charter International plc was a large British engineering business based in London. It was acquired by Colfax Corporation in January 2012. History Charter International's origins can be traced back to the British South Africa Company, which was ...

. From 1984 to 1993, Edwardes was chief executive of

Minorco The Minorco SA (Minerals and Resources Company) was a mining company based in Luxembourg. It was set up by the South African Anglo American Corporation in 1987 to hold its non-African, non-diamond mining operations. Although Minorco was quoted on ...

, a

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

based mining company that narrowly failed to take over

Consolidated Gold Fields Consolidated Gold Fields was a British gold-mining company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it was acquired by Hanson in 1988. History Consolidated Gold Fields of South Africa was fo ...

in a bitter and high-profile battle.Brian Groom: ″Michael Edwardes, industrialist, 1930-2019″, in: The Financial Times, September 27, 2019
/ref> In his book ''Back from the Brink'' (1983), Edwardes discusses his experiences at

Personal life

In 1958 Edwardes married Mary Margaret Finlay, a psychotherapist and anti-apartheid campaigner. The couple, who had three daughters, divorced in 1984.

Book

* ''Back from the Brink'', HarperCollins 1983,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Edwardes, Michael 1930 births 2019 deaths South African knights Knights Bachelor Businesspeople awarded knighthoods South African non-fiction writers South African businesspeople Alumni of St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown Rhodes University alumni British Leyland people International Computers Limited people People from Gqeberha