Alfred Moritz Mond, 1st Baron Melchett, PC, FRS, DL (23 October 1868 – 27 December 1930), known as Sir Alfred Mond, Bt between 1910 and 1928, was a British

industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

, financier and politician. In his later life he became an active Zionist.

Early life and education

Mond was born in

Farnworth, Widnes Farnworth is part of the town of Widnes which is in the Borough of Halton in the ceremonial county of Cheshire and Historic counties of England, historic county of Lancashire, England. A village between Prescot and Penketh, its name is now that ...

, Lancashire, England, the younger son of Ludwig Mond, a chemist and industrialist who had emigrated from Germany, and his wife Frieda, née Löwenthal, both of Jewish extraction. He was educated at Cheltenham College and St. John's College, Cambridge, but failed his natural sciences tripos. He then studied law at the University of Edinburgh and was called to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

by the Inner Temple in 1894.Greenaway, Frank (2004) 'Mond family ( 1867–1973)', '' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press

Retrieved on 9 March 2007.

Business career

Following this he joined his father's business Brunner Mond, Brunner Mond & Company as director, later becoming its managing director. He was also managing director of his father's other company, the Mond Nickel Company. Other directorships included those of the International Nickel Corporation of Canada, the Westminster Bank and the Industrial Finance Investment Corporation. His major business achievement came in 1926 when he worked to create the merger of four companies to form

Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926. Its headquarters were at M ...

(ICI), one of the world's largest industrial corporations at the time. He became its first chairman.

Political career

Mond was also involved in politics and sat as Liberal Member of Parliament for

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

from 1906 to 1910, for

Swansea Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe). The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...

from 1910 to 1918 and for Swansea West from 1918 to 1923. He served in the

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

of David Lloyd George as First Commissioner of Works from 1916 to 1921, and as Minister of Health (with a seat in the cabinet) from 1921 to 1922. After losing his seat at the 1923 general election, he returned to Parliament as a Liberal for Carmarthen at a by-election in August 1924, holding the seat until his elevation to the peerage in 1928. Although a supporter of the "New Liberalism" in his early political career and a "vocal proponent of constructive social reform" in the postwar government, Mond became a Conservative in January 1926 after falling out with Lloyd George over the former Prime Minister's controversial plans to nationalise agricultural land. Mond was created a Baronet, of Hartford Hill in Great Budworth in the County of Chester, in 1910, and was admitted to the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

in 1913. In 1928 he was raised to the peerage as

Baron Melchett Baron Melchett, of Landford in the County of Southampton, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 5 June 1928 for Sir Alfred Mond, 1st Baronet, Chairman of Imperial Chemical Industries and a former First Commissione ...

, of Landford in the County of Southampton.

Mondism

In the aftermath of the

1926 General Strike The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 to 12 May 1926. It was called by the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British governm ...

, Mond led efforts to establish cooperation between workers (represented by trades unions and the General Council of the TUC) and the large employers; this short-lived initiative became known as .

Benefactions, Zionism and honours

Mond's father had bequeathed a collection of old master paintings to the National Gallery, and Alfred provided housing for them in 1924. In 1929 he provided land in Chelsea for the Chelsea Health Society. An enthusiastic Zionist, in 1920 Mond donated ten thousand pounds to

Vladimir Jabotinsky Ze'ev Jabotinsky ( he, זְאֵב זַ׳בּוֹטִינְסְקִי, ''Ze'ev Zhabotinski'';, ''Wolf Zhabotinski'' 17 October 1880 – 3 August 1940), born Vladimir Yevgenyevich Zhabotinsky, was a Russian Jewish Revisionist Zionist leade ...

. The following year he visited

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

with Chaim Weizmann. He contributed money to the Jewish Colonization Corporation for Palestine and wrote for Zionist publications. He became President of the British Zionist Foundation and made financial contributions to Zionist causes. Melchett founded the town of

Tel Mond Tel Mond ( he, תֵּל מוֹנְד) is a town in the Sharon region of Israel, located east of Netanya and north of Kfar Saba. In it had a population of .. History Before the 20th century, the area of Tel Mond formed part of the Forest of Shar ...

, now in Israel. He also started building what is now one of the few private houses on the shore of the

Sea of Galilee The Sea of Galilee ( he, יָם כִּנֶּרֶת, Judeo-Aramaic: יַמּא דטבריא, גִּנֵּיסַר, ar, بحيرة طبريا), also called Lake Tiberias, Kinneret or Kinnereth, is a freshwater lake in Israel. It is the lowest ...

, now known as Villa Melchett. Tel Aviv and several other Israeli cities have a Melchett Street commemorating him. One of Mond's most enduring contributions to Zionism did not come through direct political means but through his enthusiastic and active support of

Pinhas Rutenberg Pinhas Rutenberg (russian: Пётр Моисеевич Рутенберг, Pyotr Moiseyevich Rutenberg; he, פנחס רוטנברג: 5 February 1879 – 3 January 1942) was a Russian Jewish engineer, businessman, and political activist. He pla ...

, to whom the British Government granted exclusive concessions to produce and distribute electricity in Palestine. Mond sat on the Board of the Palestine Electric Company and promoted the case of the company in London's political and industrial circles. Mond was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1928 and received a number of honorary degrees from Oxford, Paris and other universities.

Personal life

In 1894 Mond married Violet Goetze and they had one son, Henry Ludwig, and three daughters, Eva Violet, Mary Angela, and Norah Jena. Mond died in his London home in 1930, and his son succeeded in the barony.

Publications

* ''Industry and Politics'' (1927) * ''Imperial Economic Unity'' (1930)

Literary references

Mond is mentioned in

T. S. Eliot Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...

's 1920 poem ''A Cooking Egg''. He is also – along with the Turkish leader

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, or Mustafa Kemal Pasha until 1921, and Ghazi Mustafa Kemal from 1921 Surname Law (Turkey), until 1934 ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish Mareşal (Turkey), field marshal, Turkish National Movement, re ...

– widely considered to be the inspiration behind Mustapha Mond, one of the ten world controllers in Aldous Huxley's 1932 novel '' Brave New World''.

Coat of arms

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mond, Alfred, 1st Baron Melchett 1868 births 1930 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Burials at St Pancras and Islington Cemetery Conservative Party (UK) MPs for Welsh constituencies Deputy Lieutenants of Cheshire English businesspeople English Jews British Ashkenazi Jews English people of German-Jewish descent Fellows of the Royal Society (Statute 12) Imperial Chemical Industries executives Jewish British politicians Liberal Party (UK) MPs for Welsh constituencies Members of the Inner Temple Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Carmarthenshire constituencies Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Swansea constituencies Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Alfred Mond,1st Baron Melchett People educated at Cheltenham College People from Widnes UK MPs 1906–1910 UK MPs 1910 UK MPs 1910–1918 UK MPs 1918–1922 UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1924–1929 UK MPs who were granted peerages Tel Mond National Liberal Party (UK, 1922) politicians Barons created by George V