Gerald Edgar Grimstone, Baron Grimstone of Boscobel (born 27 August 1949) is a British businessman. He was previously chairman of

Barclays Bank plc Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

and of Standard Life and group deputy chairman of Barclays plc, the holding company for the Barclays Group. On 18 March 2020, he became an unpaid minister at the Department for International Trade and the

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is a department of His Majesty's Government. The department was formed during a machinery of government change on 14 July 2016, following Theresa May's appointment as Prime ...

, and it was announced he would become a life peer.

Early life

Gerald Edgar Grimstone was born in August 1949, in

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

, London, the son of a carpet fitter father. Grimstone has described his father as a "working class intellectual" and a senior member of the UK Communist Party. He was educated at the Whitgift School, Croydon, and

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of Oxford University, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the ...

, where he received a degree in chemistry.

Career

Grimstone worked as a civil servant from 1972 to 1986, and then as a director of Schroders from 1986 to 1999. Grimstone was chairman of Standard Life (now Standard Life Aberdeen) from 2007 till 2019, deputy chairman of

Barclays Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

since January 2016, a non-executive director of Deloitte and the lead non-executive director at the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

Honours

Grimstone was

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

in the

2014 Birthday Honours The 2014 Birthday Honours were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of ...

, and received that accolade from the Prince of Wales on 6 February 2015. On 8 April 2020 he was created Baron Grimstone of Boscobel, of Belgravia in the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and London boroughs, borough in Inner London. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It occupies a large area of cent ...

Personal life

In 1973, Grimstone married

Hon. Janet Elizabeth Gudrun Suenson-Taylor ''The Honourable'' (British English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of certain ...

, daughter of the 2nd

Baron Grantchester Baron Grantchester, of Knightsbridge in the City of Westminster, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 30 June 1953 for the banker and Liberal politician Alfred Suenson-Taylor. , the title is held by his grandson, the ...

; they had a son and two daughters before divorcing in 1995.Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, Burke's Peerage, Ltd, 2003, vol. 2, p. 1637

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grimstone, Gerry 1949 births Living people British businesspeople Conservative Party (UK) life peers Barclays people Deloitte people People educated at Whitgift School Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Fellows of Merton College, Oxford Life peers created by Elizabeth II