Murray David Maitland Keddie (27 May 1929 – 18 February 2018), known as David Keddie, was a prominent

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

businessman, broadcaster, benefactor, magistrate, Deputy Lieutenant and

High Sheriff of Essex The High Sheriff of Essex was an ancient sheriff title originating in the time of the Angles, not long after the invasion of the Kingdom of England, which was in existence for around a thousand years. On 1 April 1974, under the provisions of th ...

in 1986.

Early life

Keddie was educated at

Summer Fields School Summer Fields is a fee-paying boys' independent day and boarding preparatory school in Summertown, Oxford. It was originally called Summerfield and used to have a subsidiary school, Summerfields, St Leonards-on-Sea (known as "Summers mi"). ...

Summertown, Oxford Summertown in North Oxford is a suburb of Oxford, England. Summertown is a one-mile square residential area, north of St Giles, the boulevard leading out of Oxford's city centre. Summertown is home to several independent schools and the city's ...

, and

Malvern College Malvern College is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging coeducational boarding school, boarding and day school in Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is a public school (United Kingdom), public school ...

(at that time housed with

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (school founder), John Lyon, a local landowner an ...

, as Malvern College was requisitioned by TRE for

World War II 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 ...

effort). In the period 1947-51, whilst studying for the Bar, he served in the

Inns of Court Regiment The Inns of Court Regiment (ICR) was a British Army regiment that existed under that name between May 1932 and May 1961. However, the unit traces its lineage back much further, to at least 1584, and its name lives on today within 68 (Inns of Cour ...

, part of the

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry in ...

, and then served as a National Service Officer in the 10th Field Regiment, Royal Artillery until 1953.

Business life

In 1954, he joined Keddies, the family-owned department store in

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...

, Essex, as a Director. He managed Keddies for 42 years until it ceased trading in 1996, due to the effect of competition from out-of-town centre shopping malls. During his time in charge he expanded Keddies into a small department store chain during the 60s and 70s. Whilst at Keddies, in the early 1960s, he pioneered Supa-Save discount stores in Southend. With these he challenged the retail status quo and was instrumental in eventually abolishing the Retail Price Maintenance, or RPM (fixed supplier pricing, see

Resale price maintenance Resale price maintenance (RPM) or, occasionally, retail price maintenance is the practice whereby a manufacturer and its distribution (marketing), distributors agree that the distributors will sell the manufacturer's product at certain prices (re ...

), against legal and regulatory opposition. Following a number of injunctions, court cases, and joining forces with other retailers, the RPM was eventually abolished in 1964.

Public offices

Keddie held a number of public offices over the years. In 1972, he was Senior Magistrate for the Southend Bench; in 1983, he was Deputy Lieutenant of Essex and, in 1985-86 he was appointed

(the first holder of the title to come from South Essex). In 1986 he was President of the Essex Show, and continued as Director of the Essex Agricultural Society.

Broadcasting

In 1981, after unsuccessfully lobbying the BBC to launch a local radio station in Essex, he founded Essex Radio (renamed

Heart Essex (Chelmsford & Southend) Heart Essex (formerly Essex Radio and then Essex FM) was an Independent Local Radio station, serving the county of Essex and parts of East Hertfordshire. It was launched on 12 September 1981, broadcasting from Southend-on-Sea and since 27 Octobe ...

), and was its first Chairman until 1991

Architecture

He was a proponent of the Modern Movement in Essex, commissioning architects Yorke, Rosenberg & Mardall to design the family home, Ark House (1962) and redevelop the Keddies store in Southend (1960–64). The Keddies store was awarded a Civic Trust Award in 1963 and featured in Concrete Quarterly (1963)

Public and charitable work

He was also active in charitable, fundraising activities: * 1970–1990 Chairman of the Industrial Consultative Council * 1979–1990 Chairman of the Palace Theatre Trust * 1998–2001 Director, Southend Hospital Charity Foundation