Trevor James Hemmings (11 June 1935 – 11 October 2021) was a British

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 ...

businessman.

Early life

Hemmings was born in

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...

, London, the son of a

Royal Ordnance Royal Ordnance plc was formed on 2 January 1985 as a public corporation, owning the majority of what until then were the remaining United Kingdom government-owned Royal Ordnance Factories (abbreviated ROFs) which manufactured explosives, ammuniti ...

factory worker father. During 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 opposin ...

, part of the Royal Ordnance was relocated to

Euxton Euxton ( ) is a village and civil parish of the Borough of Chorley, in Lancashire, England. The population of the civil parish as taken at the 2011 census was 9,993, however, the population is now estimated to be around 14,000 due to the incre ...

, Lancashire, and the family moved there when he was aged five. Hemmings started working with diesel trains while attending Business Studies night courses. He then became an apprentice

bricklayer A bricklayer, which is related to but different from a mason, is a craftsman and tradesman who lays bricks to construct brickwork. The terms also refer to personnel who use blocks to construct blockwork walls and other forms of masonry. ...

, going on to learn all aspects of the building trade. His first fortune was amassed through a housebuilding business. He sold his house-building firm in the early '70s for £1.5 million, just before the collapse of the property market and started another building company, which he sold to

Barratt Developments Barratt Developments plc is one of the largest residential property development companies in the United Kingdom operating across England, Wales and Scotland. It was founded in 1958 as Greensitt Bros., but control was later assumed by Sir La ...

for £5.7million.

Career

Hemmings owned

Preston North End F.C. Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

, Northern Trust Co. Ltd, Classic Lodges Ltd. and Trust Inns Ltd. He also owned over 100 racehorses, three of which won the

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap ...

Hedgehunter Hedgehunter (born 25 January 1996) is an Irish race horse, who won the 2005 Grand National steeplechase, ridden by Ruby Walsh and trained by Willie Mullins. He had fallen at the final fence the previous year when well placed. He then finished se ...

(2005),

Ballabriggs Ballabriggs (foaled 20 April 2001) is a retired Grand National-winning National Hunt racehorse trained by Donald McCain, Jr. in Cholmondeley, Cheshire and owned by Trevor Hemmings. Racing career Ballabriggs' racecourse debut was in a 2-mile Na ...

(2011), and

Many Clouds Many Clouds (21 April 2007 – 28 January 2017) was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 2015 Grand National. After being sold as a foal, he was sent to England and trained for a National Hunt racing ...

(2015). In 2009, it was reported by the ''

Sunday Times Rich List The ''Sunday Times Rich List'' is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families resident in the United Kingdom ranked by net wealth. The list is updated annually in April and published as a magazine supplement by British national Sunday news ...

'' that Hemmings had lost £700m because of a collapse in the price of

Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS; gd, Banca Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a major retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest (in England and Wales) and Ulster Bank ...

shares, making him only the ninth richest man in the North West and the 178th in the country. The Rich List editor, Ian Coxon, said the drop in Hemmings' fortunes had been caused by the decrease in value of his North West property portfolio as well as his share investment. According to the ''Sunday Times Rich List'' in 2021, Hemmings was worth £1.115 billion. Hemmings also purchased the site of the former

Pontins Pontins is a British company operating holiday parks in the UK, founded in 1946 by Fred Pontin. Since 2011, it has been owned by Britannia Hotels. Pontins specialises in offering half-board and self-catering holidays featuring entertainment ...

holiday camp at Plemont Bay in

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

in 2005. He submitted several plans to redevelop the site for housing, but there followed a long campaign against the development led by the

National Trust for Jersey The National Trust for Jersey is a charitable organisation which aims at preserving and safeguarding sites of historic, aesthetic and natural interest in Jersey. The trust held its first formal meeting, headed by the Dean of Jersey, Samuel Fall ...

. Ultimately in 2014 the NTJ purchased the site from Hemmings for £7.15m, with £3.6m provided by the States of Jersey.

Philanthropy

Hemmings provided the funds for the S.A.F.E centre, a project helping the victims of sexual violence in

Preston, Lancashire Preston () is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston local government district. Preston and its surrounding distri ...

Recognition

Hemmings was appointed

Commander of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Monarchy of Canada, Canadian monarch, Mon ...

(CVO) in the

2011 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours 2011 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 11 June 2011 in the United Kingdom,United Kingdom: New Zealand,The Princess Royal Trust for Carers The Carers Trust is a charity in the United Kingdom which supports carers. It works with a network of partner organisations to help carers with the challenges of their caring roles. History The Princess Royal Trust for Carers was created on the ...

, now renamed Carers Trust.

Personal life

Hemmings married Eve Rumney in 1955, they had three sons and one daughter. In later life, he primarily resided on the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

. He died on 11 October 2021, at the age of 86.

References