Sir Joseph Flawith Lockwood (14 November 1904 – 6 March 1991), was a British industrialist and businessman, whose initial reputation was as an executive of a
flour mill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated ...
ing company. Later, as chairman of
EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...
between 1954 and 1974, he oversaw the company's expansion in the music business, and the signing and marketing of acts including
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...
. He was
knighted in 1960.
Early life
He was born in
Southwell, Nottinghamshire
Southwell (, ) is a minster and market town in the district of Newark and Sherwood in Nottinghamshire, England. It is home to the grade-I listed Southwell Minster, the cathedral of the Anglican Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham. The populat ...
, the second son of
flour mill
A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated ...
owner Joseph Agnew Lockwood and his wife, Mabel (née Caudwell). Through his father he was a distant cousin to the actress
Margaret Lockwood
Margaret Mary Day Lockwood, Order of the British Empire, CBE (15 September 1916 – 15 July 1990), was an English actress. One of Britain's most popular film stars of the 1930s and 1940s, her film appearances included ''The Lady Vanishes (1938 ...
and to Solicitor General
Sir Frank Lockwood, their common ancestor being Joseph Lockwood (c. 1758 – 1837), a former Mayor of
Doncaster
Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...
,
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
.
[Ward, R. D. (2014). ''Wealth and Notability: The Lockwood, Day and Metcalfe Families of Yorkshire and London''. pages 24–37. . http://copac.jisc.ac.uk/search?title=wealth%20and%20notability&rn=1] Lockwood attended schools in Southwell,
Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
and
Newark, but left at the age of 16 without qualifications and described his education as "little more than rudimentary".
["Profile: Joseph Lockwood: The flair and gusto of EMI's chairman", ''The New Scientist'', 4 February 1960, pp.266–267]
Retrieved 1 June 2014
Flour milling and related activities
He worked at the family mill before travelling to
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
at the age of 19, and becoming manager of a flour mill in
Santiago
Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...
, later moving to
Concepción. He returned to England in about 1928, and began working for
Ernest Simon in his family firm of mill builders, Henry Simon (later known as
Simon Carves). Despite his lack of engineering qualifications he successfully supervised the rebuilding of a mill in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
, and moved up through the company's management until he was appointed to the board around 1934.
[ With his enthusiasm for research and development, the company expanded under his direction, becoming the world's largest manufacturer of flour mills.][ Anthony Thorncroft, "EMI 75th Anniversary: Fifteen years at the controls...", ''Billboard'', 1 September 1973, pp.E3-E5]
Retrieved 1 June 2014 He wrote the standard book on the subject of mill technology, ''Flour Milling'', in 1945, and also researched and wrote on the subject of pelletised animal feed and its manufacture.[
At the start of 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 took charge of measures to protect from firebombs in north west England, and became a member of a working party on wartime food supplies in Europe. Towards the end of the war, working with SHAEF
Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF; ) was the headquarters of the Commander of Allied forces in north west Europe, from late 1943 until the end of World War II. U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower was the commander in SHAEF ...
, he followed the advancing troops in order to supervise the storage and production of grain, flour and foodstuffs in areas of Europe that were becoming liberated; he was in Lüneburg
Lüneburg (officially the ''Hanseatic City of Lüneburg'', German: ''Hansestadt Lüneburg'', , Low German ''Lümborg'', Latin ''Luneburgum'' or ''Lunaburgum'', Old High German ''Luneburc'', Old Saxon ''Hliuni'', Polabian ''Glain''), also called ...
when Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
committed suicide and in Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
soon after the death of Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
.[
He became chairman of Henry Simon Ltd. in 1950, and in 1951 became a director of the ]National Research Development Corporation The National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) was a non-departmental government body established by the British Government to transfer technology from the public sector to the private sector.
History
The NRDC was established by Attlee's Lab ...
.[
]
Management of EMI
In early 1954, he was approached by Sir Edward de Stein to join the board of EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...
, and he became its chairman on his fiftieth birthday later in the year. At the time, EMI was losing some £0.5 million per year and was on the verge of bankruptcy.[ "Q&A Session: Sir Joseph Lockwood", ''Billboard'', 26 December 1974, p.51](_blank)
Retrieved 1 June 2014 He instigated a run-down of the gramophone and radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmi ...
manufacturing side of the company, giving it a greater focus on industrial electronic equipment
The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...
through a partnership with Thorn Electrical Industries
Thorn Electrical Industries Limited was a British electrical engineering company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange, but merged with EMI Group to form Thorn EMI in 1979. It was de-merged in 1996 and became a constituent of the FTSE 100 ...
. He also started to oversee substantial growth in EMI's involvement in the record industry
The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...
, buying and developing the American Capitol
A capitol, named after the Capitoline Hill in Rome, is usually a legislative building where a legislature meets and makes laws for its respective political entity.
Specific capitols include:
* United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.
* Numerous ...
company in the late 1950s,[Stuart Shea and Robert Rodriguez, ''Fab Four FAQ: Everything Left to Know About the Beatles ... and More!'', Hal Leonard Corporation, 2007, pp.340-341]
/ref> and appointing George Martin
Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the " Fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the ...
to take charge of the Parlophone
Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...
label.[ Philip Norman, ''Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation'', Simon and Schuster, 2011 edition]
/ref> By 1960, EMI's annual profits were some £5 million. Joseph Lockwood was appointed 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 the 1960 New Year Honours
The New Year Honours is a part of the British honours system, with New Year's Day, 1 January, being marked by naming new members of orders of chivalry and recipients of other official honours. A number of other Commonwealth realms also mark this ...
list.[
He prioritised the production and sale of popular records, rather than classical records aimed at a prestige market. He also changed marketing and distribution arrangements; previously, only a small handful of ]record shop
A record shop or record store is a retail outlet that sells recorded music. In the late 19th century and the early 20th century, record shops only sold gramophone records, but over the 20th century, record shops sold the new formats that were ...
s in Britain had been permitted to sell EMI records, and Lockwood pioneered new ways of ensuring the rapid distribution of hit records to shops. By 1973, EMI was reported to be the largest record company in the world. Lockwood also led the involvement of EMI in the British film industry.[
Lockwood was regarded as close to the Beatles, who generated a large share of EMI's profits during the 1960s. It has been suggested that his relationship with the group was eased because both he and the Beatles' manager ]Brian Epstein
Brian Samuel Epstein (; 19 September 1934 – 27 August 1967) was a British music entrepreneur who managed the Beatles from 1962 until his death in 1967.
Epstein was born into a family of successful retailers in Liverpool, who put him i ...
were both Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
and gay
''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'.
While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...
.[ Lockwood occasionally intervened personally in areas of dispute, for example to insist on the release of the "]Penny Lane
"Penny Lane" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in February 1967 as a double A-side single with "Strawberry Fields Forever". It was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney songw ...
" / "Strawberry Fields Forever
"Strawberry Fields Forever" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released on 13 February 1967 as a double A-side single with " Penny Lane". It represented a departu ...
" single, and in ensuring that the Beatles rather than EMI would be held legally responsible if there were objections from celebrities pictured on the cover of the '' Sgt. Pepper'' album.[ He was seen as willing to overlook "eccentricities" such as their drug use, saying "I never pursued it... largely because they were so successful".][ However, he refused to allow EMI to distribute the '']Two Virgins
2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many cultur ...
'' album because of its controversial sleeve design.[
]
Later years and death
Lockwood retired as chairman of EMI in 1974. He died at his home in Buckinghamshire in 1991 at the age of 86. Jay Warner, ''On this Day in Music History'', Hal Leonard Corporation, 2004, p.67
/ref>
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lockwood, Joseph
1904 births
1991 deaths
British music industry executives
People from Southwell, Nottinghamshire
English industrialists
Knights Bachelor
EMI
The Beatles
English LGBT people
20th-century English businesspeople