Geoffrey Crowther, Baron Crowther
Kt. (13 May 1907 – 5 February 1972) was a British economist, journalist, educationalist and businessman. He was editor of ''
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...
'' from 1938 to 1956.His major works include 'Economics for Democrats'(1939) 'An Outline of Money'(1941).
Early life and education
Crowther was born in
Headingley
Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...
,
Leeds
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...
on 13 May 1907, the son of Dr Charles Crowther (1876–1964), professor of agricultural chemistry at the University of Leeds, and his wife, Hilda Louise Reed.
He was educated at
Leeds Grammar School
Leeds Grammar School was an independent school founded 1552 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Originally a male-only school, in August 2005 it merged with Leeds Girls' High School to form The Grammar School at Leeds. The two schools physicall ...
and
Oundle School
Oundle School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) for pupils 11–18 situated in the market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire, England. The school has been governed by the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the City ...
before gaining a scholarship to
Clare College, Cambridge
Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the University after Peterhouse. It was refound ...
to read modern languages, in which he took a first in 1928. He then changed to economics and was awarded an upper first class degree in 1929. He was elected president of the
Cambridge Union Society
The Cambridge Union Society, also known as the Cambridge Union, is a debating and free speech society in Cambridge, England, and the largest society in the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1815, it is the oldest continuously running debati ...
in 1928.
Donald Tyerman said of him that "Crowther's self-awareness and self-confidence were not so much asserted as taken for granted. But men who did well enough in life after Cambridge were in despair when they saw how sure it seemed that he would succeed in whatever he chose to do."
[
]
In 1929 he was awarded a
Commonwealth Fund Fellowship. He spent a year at
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
, where he met his wife Peggy and then, while nominally attached to
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, he spent a year on Wall Street. From 1931 he worked in a London merchant bank and on the recommendation of
John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originally trained in ...
became an advisor on banking to the Irish Government. He married Peggy in 1932 and after a further recommendation from Keynes joined the staff of ''
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...
'' in the same year.
[
]
''The Economist''
He joined ''
The Economist
''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...
'' in 1932 and was made deputy editor in 1935. In August 1938, he succeeded
Walter Layton
Walter Thomas Layton, 1st Baron Layton (15 March 1884 – 14 February 1966), was a British economist, editor, newspaper proprietor and Liberal Party politician.
Background and education
Layton was the son of Alfred John Layton of Woking, Surre ...
to become, at the age of 31, the youngest editor in the newspaper's history.
Under his editorship, ''The Economist''
's circulation grew fivefold. It became one of the most influential journals in the world
and "made greater progress in every way than in any similar period in its history".
He nurtured the careers of a number of distinguished journalists and writers, including Roland Bird,
Donald Tyerman,
Barbara Ward
Barbara Mary Ward, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, (23 May 1914 – 31 May 1981) was a British economist and writer interested in the problems of developing countries. She urged Western governments to share their prosperity with the rest of th ...
,
Isaac Deutscher
Isaac; grc, Ἰσαάκ, Isaák; ar, إسحٰق/إسحاق, Isḥāq; am, ይስሐቅ is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. He was the ...
, John Midgley,
Norman Macrae, Margaret Cruikshank, Helen Hill Miller,
Marjorie Deane
Marjorie Deane (1914 - 2 October 2008) was a British financial journalist and author, who worked for ''The Economist'' from 1947 to 1989, and has been called "a pathbreaker for female financial journalists" by Paul Volcker, the former chairman ...
, Nancy Balfour, Donald McLachlan,
Keith Kyle
Keith Kyle (4 August 1925, Sturminster Newton, Dorset – 21 February 2007, London) was a British writer, broadcaster and historian.
Early life
Kyle was educated at Bromsgrove School and Magdalen College, Oxford University, where his period as ...
, Andrew Boyd and
George Steiner
Francis George Steiner, FBA (April 23, 1929 – February 3, 2020) was a Franco-American literary critic, essayist, philosopher, novelist, and educator. He wrote extensively about the relationship between language, literature and society, and the ...
. He was particularly supportive of the careers of women at a time when this was remarkable in the newspaper world.
He resigned in 1956 after serving seventeen and a half years, just one month longer than Layton. He had become a director of Economist Newspaper Ltd. in 1947 and on his resignation as editor he became managing director. In 1963 he succeeded Layton as chairman.
Public service
During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
he joined the
Ministry of Supply and was for a time at the
Ministry of Information, before being appointed deputy head of joint war production staff at the
Ministry of Production
The Ministry of Production was a British government department created in February 1942, initially under the title Ministry of War Production, but the following month "War" was dropped from the title. Its purpose was to fill a gap in the machinery ...
.
In 1956, he was appointed Chairman of the
Central Advisory Council for Education (England). The result was ''The Crowther Report – Fifteen to Eighteen'', which eventually led, in 1972, to the raising of the school leaving age to 16, and in which he coined the word ''
numeracy''.
In 1971, he authored the Report of the Committee on Consumer Credit, the "Crowther Report", whose recommendations led to the
Consumer Credit Act 1974.
Until his death in 1972, he was chairman of the
Royal Commission on the Constitution.
Other appointments
Crowther served for several years on the board of the
National Institute of Economic and Social Research
The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR), established in 1938, is Britain's oldest independent economic research institute. The institute is a London-based independent UK registered charity that carries out academic researc ...
and was instrumental in insuring its survival during the war years.
He served on the Council of the
Royal Institute of International Affairs
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal, Iowa, a ci ...
and from 1944 was for a time on the editorial board of
International Affairs
International relations (IR), sometimes referred to as international studies and international affairs, is the scientific study of interactions between sovereign states. In a broader sense, it concerns all activities between states—such a ...
.
He was editor of ''Translatlantic'', a magazine published in the 1940s by
Penguin Books
Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.[The Brains Trust
''The Brains Trust'' was an informational BBC radio and later television programme popular in the United Kingdom during the 1940s and 1950s, on which a panel of experts tried to answer questions sent in by the audience.
History
The series was ...]
'' on BBC radio.
In education, he was a member of the governing body of the
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) is a public university, public research university located in London, England and a constituent college of the federal University of London. Founded in 1895 by Fabian Society members Sidn ...
,
and in 1969 he was appointed Foundation Chancellor of the
Open University
The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study off- ...
.
Business
At one point Crowther held as many as 40 directorships.
His appointments included vice-chairman of
Commercial Union
Commercial Union plc was a large insurance business based in London. It merged with General Accident in 1998 to form CGU plc.
History
Commercial Union was established following a conflagration near London Bridge in 1861, known as the Great T ...
, chairman of
The Economist Group
The Economist Group (legally The Economist Newspaper Limited) is a media company headquartered in London, England. It is best known as publisher of ''The Economist'' newspaper and its sister lifestyle magazine, '' 1843''. The Economist Group spe ...
, Trust Houses Group,
Trafalgar House and Hazell Sun as well as director of
London Merchant Securities,
Royal Bank of Canada,
British Printing Corporation
Maxwell Communication Corporation plc was a leading British media business. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It collapsed in 1991 following the death of its titular owner.
History
The comp ...
and
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. is a British-American company known for publishing the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', the world's oldest continuously published encyclopaedia, as well as extensive digital efforts—including text and audiovisual� ...
He was involved in ill-fated mergers at British Printing Corporation in 1966 and at
Trust House Forte
Forte Group plc was a British hotel and restaurant company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it was acquired by Granada in 1996. Its head office was in the London Borough of Camden.
...
in 1970.
Awards and honours
Crowther became a
Knight Bachelor
The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are th ...
in 1957, and was awarded a
life peerage on 28 June 1968 and became Baron Crowther, of
Headingley
Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...
in the
West Riding of the County of York.
He also was awarded seven honorary degrees:
* Honorary Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, 1958
* Hon LL.D. Nottingham, 1951
* Hon D.Sc (Econ.) London, 1954
* Hon LL.D. Swarthmore, 1957
* Hon LL.D. Dartmouth, 1957
* Hon LL.D. Michigan, 1960
* Hon LL.D. Liverpool, 1961
Family
Crowther's parents were Hilda Louise Reed (died 1950) and Charles Crowther (1876–1964), a professor of Agricultural Chemistry at the
University of Leeds
, mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased
, established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds
, ...
and then principal of
Harper Adams Agricultural College in Shropshire from 1922 to 1944.
He had an elder sister Phyllis who married and had two sons.
His younger brother, Bernard Martin, followed him to Clare, from where, after obtaining a PhD in Physics and collaborating with
Mark Oliphant
Sir Marcus Laurence Elwin Oliphant, (8 October 1901 – 14 July 2000) was an Australian physicist and humanitarian who played an important role in the first experimental demonstration of nuclear fusion and in the development of nuclear weapon ...
, he, like Geoffrey, was awarded a Commonwealth Fund scholarship in 1939,
[
] before the war intervened. He was for many years the editor of ''Physics Abstracts''. He married Peggy's younger sister, Anne, and had three children.
The youngest of the three brothers, Donald Ineson, obtained a first in natural science at
Magdalen College, Oxford and became an associate editor at the ''
BMJ''. He married and had five children.
Crowther met Margaret Worth, who had won a scholarship to Yale Law School from
Swarthmore College, in the library at Yale College in 1929. They married on 9 February 1932. They had six children. Their eldest child, Judith Vail, died in a car crash outside
Boulogne-sur-Mer
Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the C ...
on 11 July 1955, aged 20.
Crowther died of a heart attack at
Heathrow Airport on 5 February 1972 at the age of 64.
Works
* ''An Introduction to The Study of Prices'', 2nd Edition with W. Layton, 1935
* ''Economics for Democrats'', 1939
* ''An Outline of Money'', 1940
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crowther, Geoffrey Crowther, Baron
1907 births
1972 deaths
Life peers
Knights Bachelor
Chancellors of the Open University
The Economist editors
People educated at Leeds Grammar School
People educated at Oundle School
Presidents of the Cambridge Union
Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge
Fellows of Clare College, Cambridge
People associated with Harper Adams University
Life peers created by Elizabeth II