Raj Kumar Bagri, Baron Bagri, (24 August 1930 – 26 April 2017) was an Indian-born British businessman and a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

from 1997 to 2010. He was made a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

in 1997 under the title Baron Bagri, of Regent's Park in the City of Westminster.

Early life

Raj Kumar Bagri was born on 24 August 1930 in Calcutta (now Kolkata) into a middle-class family. His father died when he was three, and age 15, his mother sent him to work as a clerk at for a metal distributor, part of the Binani family's industrial empire.

Career

A businessman, Bagri was chairman of the

London Metal Exchange The London Metal Exchange (LME) is a futures and forwards exchange with the world's largest market in standarised forward contracts, futures contracts and options on base metals. The exchange also offers contracts on ferrous metals and precious ...

until 2002. Bagri was a member of the advisory committee of

The Prince's Trust The Prince's Trust ( cy, Ymddiriedolaeth y Tywysog) is a charity in the United Kingdom founded in 1976 by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds who are u ...

and chairman of the Bagri Foundation. He was a governor of the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS University of London (; the School of Oriental and African Studies) is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the federal University of London. Founded in 1916, SOAS is located in the Bloomsbury ar ...

(SOAS). In 2012, Bagri sold

Hanover Lodge Hanover Lodge is a Grade II* listed house at 150 Park Road, London NW1, overlooking Regent's Park. It was designed by the architect John Nash, and built for General Sir Robert Arbuthnot. Since then, it has been home to several notable people ...

, "the UK’s most expensive home", to

Andrey Goncharenko Andrey Nikolaevich Goncharenko ( rus, Андрей Николаевич Гончаренко) is a Russian billionaire businessman, the CEO of a Gazprom subsidiary, and the owner of four central London houses bought for a total of £250 millio ...

a Russian

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

, for £120 million.

Personal life

He was born in a

Maheshwari Maheshwari, also spelled Maheshvari, is a Hindu caste of India, originally from what is now the state of Rajasthan. Their traditional occupation is that of commerce and as such they form part of the wider Bania occupation-based community that ...

Banias (traders) caste in Bagri tribe of India. He married Usha Maheshwary in 1954 and they had son Apurv, who took over the running of Metdist, and daughter Amita Birla. Bagri died in London on 26 April 2017.

Honours and arms

Honours

He was to the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

as a Commander (CBE) in the

1995 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1995 were appointments by most of the sixteen Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those co ...

. The

1997 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1997 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countries ...

list announced that Bagri was to be raised to the peerage, and in February he was gazetted a

as Baron Bagri, ''of

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies of high ground in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden (and historically betwee ...

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 ...

''. In 2010, following the enactment of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act, Bagri gave up his seat in the House of Lords in order to maintain his non-domiciled status for United Kingdom tax purposes.

Coat of arms

Notes

1930 births 2017 deaths Rajasthani people Conservative Party (UK) life peers Indian peers Commanders of the Order of the British Empire British politicians of Indian descent Bagrei, Rja British businesspeople of Indian descent People with non-domiciled status in the United Kingdom Businesspeople from Kolkata {{Life-peer-stub