Richard Alexander Hambro (1 October 1946 – 25 April 2009) was a British heir, investment banker,
horse breeder
Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in ...
and philanthropist.
Early life
Richard Hambro was born on 1 October 1946.Richard Hambro ''The Daily Telegraph'', 7 May 2009 His father,
Jocelyn Hambro
Major Jocelyn Olaf Hambro MC (7 March 1919 – 19 June 1994) was a British merchant banker, horse breeder and philanthropist. He was the chairman of Hambros Bank from 1965 to 1972.
Early life
Jocelyn Olaf Hambro was born on 7 March 1919 on Upp ...
, served as the chairman of
Hambros Bank
Hambros Bank was a British bank based in London. The Hambros bank was a specialist in Anglo-Scandinavian business with expertise in trade finance and investment banking, and was the sole banker to the Scandinavian kingdoms for many years. The bank ...
from 1965 to 1972.Emiliya Mychasuk Richard Hambro ''Financial Times'', 28 April 2009 His mother was Ann Silvia Muir. His paternal great-grandfather, Carl Joachim Hambro, was a Danish emigrant to England who founded the Hambro Bank.Iain Martin Richard Hambro dies of cancer ''Citywire'', 27 April 2009
He 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 later graduated from the
University of Munich
The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...
in Germany.
Career
Hambro started his career in South Africa and later worked in Italy. He then served as the president of Hambro America in the United States from 1976 to 1982. In 1986, Hambro played a significant role in selling the family's stake in Hambro's bank, before the bank was sold to
Société Générale
Société Générale S.A. (), colloquially known in English-speaking countries as SocGen (), is a French multinational universal bank and financial services company founded in 1864. It is registered in downtown Paris and headquartered nearby i ...
in 1998 for approximately £300m.
He co-founded J.O. Hambro Capital Management, a
mergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...
Credit Suisse
Credit Suisse Group AG (, ) was a global Investment banking, investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. According to UBS, eventually Credit Suisse was to be fully integrated into UBS. While the integration ...
in 2000 for USD$124 million. At the time it had 650 clients and managed £1.5 billion worth of assets. Hambro served as its chairman until his death in 2009, even after it was a subsidiary of Credit Suisse. It is now owned by
Somers Limited
Somers Limited is an investment holding company based in Hamilton, Bermuda.
He was the founder of Money Portal, a financial advisory firm, where he served as chairman from 2003 until 2009. He also served as the chairman of I. Hennig & Co., the diamond broker for
De Beers
The De Beers Group is a South African–British corporation that specializes in the diamond industry, including mining, exploitation, retail, inscription, grading, trading and industrial diamond manufacturing. The company is active in open-pi ...
, from 1987 until his death.
In 1974, he ran for the parliamentary seat of
Rotherham
Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...
. He was defeated, losing to Labour
Brian O'Malley
Brian Kevin O'Malley (22 January 1930 – 6 April 1976) was a British Labour Party politician.
O'Malley was educated at Mexborough Grammar School
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of educatio ...
.
Philanthropy
Hambro served as the treasurer of
Macmillan Cancer Support
Macmillan Cancer Support is one of the largest British charities and provides specialist health care, information and financial support to people affected by cancer. It also looks at the social, emotional and practical impact cancer can have, an ...
from 1983 to 1991, and as its chairman of its board of trustees from 1991 to 2001.Macmillan Cancer Support: The Richard Hambro Award /ref> During his time at the charity, the annual income grew from £3.5 million in 1983 to over £80 million by 2001. The Richard Hambro Award is named in his honour. He also served on the boards of trustees of Colon Cancer Concern and Bowel Cancer UK, the board of governors of the London Clinic, and the board of directors of the
Institute of Cancer Research
The Institute of Cancer Research (the ICR) is a public research institute and a member institution of the University of London in London, United Kingdom, specialising in oncology. It was founded in 1909 as a research department of the Royal Ma ...
.
He served as the chairman of the South African National Business Initiative in 1995, which was renamed the same year to the National Business Initiative. He made charitable contributions to
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...
and served as director of the board at the Garden Museum.
Equestrianism
Hambro was a steward at the
Sandown Park Racecourse
Sandown Park is a horse racing course and leisure venue in Esher, Surrey, England, located in the outer suburbs of London. It hosts 5 Grade One National Hunt racing, National Hunt races and one Group One, Group 1 flat race, the Eclipse Sta ...
and
Ascot Racecourse
Ascot Racecourse is a dual-purpose British racecourse, located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, about 25 miles west of London. Ascot is used for thoroughbred horse racing, and it hosts 13 of Britain's 36 annual Flat Group 1 races and three Grade ...
. He became a member of the
Jockey Club
The Jockey Club is the largest commercial horse racing organisation in the United Kingdom. It owns 15 of Britain's famous racecourses, including Aintree Racecourse, Aintree, Cheltenham Racecourse, Cheltenham, Epsom Downs Racecourse, Epsom ...
in 1997. He served as the chairman of the
Newmarket Racecourse
Newmarket Racecourse is a British Thoroughbred horse racing venue in Newmarket, Suffolk, Newmarket, Suffolk, comprising two individual racecourses: the Rowley Mile and the July Course. Newmarket is often referred to as the headquarters of ...
from 2004 to 2009.
After he inherited his late father's house, Waverton, in
Moreton-in-Marsh
Moreton-in-Marsh is a market town in the Evenlode Valley, within the Cotswolds district and Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Gloucestershire, England.
Its flat and low-lying site is surrounded by the Cotswold Hills. The River Evenlode r ...
, Gloucestershire in 1995, he bred racehorses. Some of his best racehorses were
Presenting
In medicine, a presentation is the appearance in a patient of illness or disease—or signs or symptoms thereof—before a medical professional. In practice, one usually speaks of a patient as ''presenting'' with this or that. Examples include:
...
and Beechy Bank. At Warwick in 2002 the four-year-old Beechy Bank won with odds of 200-1, becoming one of the longest priced winners in British racing, though Hambro did not receive a payout as he did not bet on the horse at the time.
Personal life
Hambro was married three times. He was first married to Charlotte Soames, the daughter of
Christopher Soames, Baron Soames
Arthur Christopher John Soames, Baron Soames, (12 October 1920 – 16 September 1987) was a British Conservative politician who served as a European Commissioner and the last Governor of Southern Rhodesia. He was previously Member of Parliam ...
and
Mary Soames, Baroness Soames
Mary Soames, Baroness Soames (; 15 September 1922 31 May 2014) was an English author. The youngest of the five children of Winston Churchill and his wife, Clementine, she worked for public organisations including the Red Cross and the Women's ...
, from 1973 to 1982. Their daughter, Clementine Hambro, was bridesmaid at the wedding of
Prince Charles
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms.
Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...
and
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William, ...
, in 1981. She later married Orlando Fraser, the son of
Tory
A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...
Antonia Fraser
Lady Antonia Margaret Caroline Fraser, (; born 27 August 1932) is a British author of history, novels, biographies and detective fiction. She is the widow of the 2005 Nobel Laureate in Literature, Harold Pinter (1930–2008), and prior to h ...
, in 2006.Dynasties! The society event of the year ''The Independent'', 4 November 2006
He was married to Juliet Grana (née Harvey) from 1984 to 1992. In 1993, he married his third wife, Mary, who was a horse breeder.
Death
Hambro died on 25 April 2009 at the age of sixty-two.
Richard
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...