Sir Michael Owen Edwardes (11 October 1930 – 15 September 2019) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

business executive A business executive is a person responsible for running an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. Executives run companies or government agencies. They create plans to help their organizations g ...

who held chairmanships at several companies including motor manufacturer

British Leyland British Leyland was an automotive engineering and manufacturing conglomerate formed in the United Kingdom in 1968 as British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC), following the merger of Leyland Motors and British Motor Holdings. It was partl ...

Education

Edwardes was born in

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

, and was matriculated from St. Andrew's College in 1947 before graduating from

Rhodes University Rhodes University is a public university, public research university located in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, ...

Career

Edwardes began his career in 1951 as a management trainee for battery manufacturer

Chloride The chloride ion is the anion (negatively charged ion) Cl−. It is formed when the element chlorine (a halogen) gains an electron or when a compound such as hydrogen chloride is dissolved in water or other polar solvents. Chloride salts ...

. In 1966, he served as the general manager of Alkaline Batteries, one of the group's operating companies at

Redditch Redditch is a town, and local government district, in north-east Worcestershire, England, approximately south of Birmingham. The district has a population of 85,000 as of 2019. In the 19th century, it became the international centre for the ...

, Worcestershire, UK. He later joined the Chloride main board, became chief executive in 1971 and remained in that position until 1977. He was appointed to the UK's

National Enterprise Board The National Enterprise Board (NEB) was a United Kingdom government body. It was set up in 1975 by the Labour government of Harold Wilson, to support the government's interventionist approach to industry. In 1981 the Conservative government of Mar ...

, a

quango A quango or QUANGO (less often QuANGO or QANGO) is an organisation to which a government has devolved power, but which is still partly controlled and/or financed by government bodies. The term was originally a shortening of "quasi-NGO", where NG ...

whose role was to provide financing to large UK state-owned enterprises (or nationalized industries), including the country's ailing motor giant,

, when it was established in 1975. In 1977, he was appointed as chief executive of British Leyland, and within two weeks he became chairman as the company's board was 'pruned' from 13 to 7 members. In 1979, he was knighted in the

Queen's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning British monarch's official birthday by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are present ...

. The next year, he attracted criticism for a speech to the CBI Conference in which he said, "If the Cabinet do not have the wit and imagination to reconcile our industrial needs with the fact of

North Sea oil North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid petroleum and natural gas, produced from petroleum reservoirs beneath the North Sea. In the petroleum industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian Sea and ...

, they would do better to leave the bloody stuff in the ground". His tenure at British Leyland lasted until 1982, when he was replaced by

Harold Musgrove Harold John Musgrove (born Birmingham, 1930) was the chairman of British Leyland's Austin Rover division between 1982–1986 and worked in several roles for the British National Health Service from 1991–2001. British Leyland Harold Musgrove ha ...

. In 1982, on his retirement from British Leyland as CEO, Edwardes was presented with a

British racing green British racing green, or BRG, is a colour similar to ''Brunswick green'', ''hunter green'', ''forest green'' or '' moss green'' ( RAL 6005). It takes its name from the green international motor racing colour of the United Kingdom. This originat ...

Jaguar XJS The Jaguar XJ-S (later called XJS) is a luxury grand tourer manufactured and marketed by British car manufacturer Jaguar Cars from 1975 to 1996, in coupé, fixed-profile and full convertible bodystyles. There were three distinct iterations, w ...

. He later had this car shipped to South Africa, where he used it for board meetings at General Motors South Africa in 1988. In 1984, he became chairman of computer manufacturer ICL, but resigned six months later when the company was acquired by STC. He then became chairman of Dunlop Holdings until its 1985 sale to

BTR plc BTR plc was a British multinational industrial conglomerate company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1924, grew strongly by acquisition under Sir Owen Green's leadership, and merged with Siebe plc in 1999 to form BTR ...

, briefly returned to Chloride as chairman in 1986, and in 1988 became non-executive chairman of

Charter Consolidated Charter International plc was a large British engineering business based in London. It was acquired by Colfax Corporation in January 2012. History The British South Africa Company was founded in 1889 by Royal Charter.

. From 1984 to 1993, Edwardes was chief executive of

Minorco The Minorco SA (Minerals and Resources Company) was a mining company based in Luxembourg. It was set up by the South African Anglo American Corporation in 1987 to hold its non-African, non-diamond mining operations. Although Minorco was quoted on ...

, a

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

based mining company that narrowly failed to take over

Consolidated Gold Fields Consolidated Gold Fields was a British gold-mining company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it was acquired by Hanson in 1988. History Consolidated Gold Fields of South Africa was fou ...

in a bitter and high-profile battle.Brian Groom: ″Michael Edwardes, industrialist, 1930-2019″, in: The Financial Times, September 27, 2019
/ref> In his book ''Back from the Brink'' (1983), Edwardes discusses his experiences at

Personal life

In 1958 Edwardes married Mary Margaret Finlay, a psychotherapist and anti-apartheid campaigner. The couple, who had three daughters, divorced in 1984.

Book

* ''Back from the Brink'', HarperCollins 1983,

References

External links

* 1930 births 2019 deaths South African knights Knights Bachelor Businesspeople awarded knighthoods South African non-fiction writers South African businesspeople Alumni of St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown Rhodes University alumni British Leyland people International Computers Limited people People from Port Elizabeth {{SouthAfrica-writer-stub