Simon Marks, 1st Baron Marks of Broughton (9 July 1888 – 8 December 1964), was an English retail businessman and baron, the son of Michael Marks, the co-founder of major British multinational company

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...

Biography

Early life

Marks was born in the Leylands, Leeds, on 9 July 1888, son of Michael Marks and Hannah Cohen,''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' and educated at

Manchester Grammar School The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) is a highly Selective school, selective Private_schools_in_the_United_Kingdom, private day school for boys aged 7-18 in Manchester, England, which was founded in 1515 by Hugh Oldham (then Bishop of Exeter). ...

Career

In 1907, he inherited a number of "penny bazaars" from his father, which had been established with Thomas Spencer. With the help of

Israel Sieff Israel Moses Sieff, Baron Sieff (4 May 1889 – 14 February 1972) was an English businessman and Zionist who was chairman of the British retailer Marks & Spencer from 1964 to 1967. Early life and education He was born in Manchester, the son o ...

, he built

into an icon of British business. He was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

on 4 July 1944 and on 10 July 1961 was raised to the peerage as Baron Marks of Broughton, ''of

Sunningdale Sunningdale is a village and a civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. It takes up the extreme south-east corner of Berkshire, England and is adjoined by green buffers including Sunningdale Golf Club and Wentworth Golf ...

in the

Royal County of Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

''.

Death and legacy

Marks died 8 December 1964, in London, and was cremated at

Golders Green Crematorium Golders Green Crematorium and Mausoleum was the first crematorium to be opened in London, and is one of the oldest crematoria in Britain. The land for the crematorium was purchased in 1900, costing £6,000 (the equivalent of £136,000 in 2021), ...

. His ashes and memorial are housed within the internal columbarium (visible by arrangement). The ashes of his wife Miriam Marks (née Sieff, sister of Israel Sieff), and those of his business partner

, rest with his. He was succeeded in the

barony Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

by his only son, Michael Marks, 2nd Baron Marks of Broughton, who died in 1998 and was succeeded in the title by his own son, Simon Marks, 3rd Baron Marks of Broughton.

Coat of arms

References

1888 births 1964 deaths English Jews Businesspeople from Leeds British retail company founders Marks–Sacher family Hereditary barons created by Elizabeth II Jewish British politicians 20th-century English businesspeople Knights Bachelor English businesspeople in retailing Businesspeople awarded knighthoods {{UK-baron-stub