Donald Gresham Stokes, Baron Stokes (22 March 1914 – 21 July 2008) was an English industrialist. He was the head of British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd (BLMC) from 1968 to 1975.

Life and career

Stokes was born in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to ...

, and educated at

Blundell's School Blundell's School is a co-educational day and boarding independent school in the English public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon. It was founded in 1604 under the will of Peter Blundell, one of the richest men in England at the t ...

Tiverton, Devon Tiverton ( ) is a town and civil parish in Devon, England, and the commercial and administrative centre of the Mid Devon district. The population in 2019 was 20,587. History Early history The town's name is conjectured to derive from "Twy-fo ...

. In 1930 he commenced an

engineering apprentice An engineering apprenticeship in the United Kingdom is an apprenticeship in mechanical engineering or electrical engineering or aeronautical engineering to train craftsmen, technicians, senior technicians, Incorporated Engineers and Chartered Engin ...

ship with Leyland Motors, which included further education at the Harris Institute of Technology in

Preston Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to: Places England *Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement **The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement **County Boro ...

. 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 opposi ...

, Stokes served with the

Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is a corps of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses. The corps is described as the "British Army's Professional Engineers". History Prior to REME's for ...

, reaching the rank of

lieutenant-colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

. In the early summer of 1939 he married Laura Elizabeth Courteney Lamb. Excepting the break for military service between 1939 and 1945, Stokes stayed with Leyland throughout his career, although he also served in the Territorial Army. In 1968 he was appointed chairman and managing director of British Leyland, a challenging role much in the public eye at the time. In 1977

Michael Edwardes Sir Michael Owen Edwardes (11 October 1930 – 15 September 2019) was a British-South African business executive who held chairmanships at several companies including motor manufacturer British Leyland. Education Edwardes was born in Port El ...

was appointed chief executive at British Leyland, but Stokes remained on the board till 1979. Stokes was awarded with a

knighthood A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the ...

in the 1965 Birthday Honours, having the honour conferred by

The Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...

on 11 November. He was created 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 ...

taking the title Baron Stokes, of Leyland in the

County Palatine of Lancaster Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

on 9 January 1969 and sat as a

Crossbencher A crossbencher is an independent or minor party member of some legislatures, such as the British House of Lords and the Parliament of Australia. They take their name from the crossbenches, between and perpendicular to the government and oppositi ...

in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

. By the time he died he had become the second eldest member. On 13 June 1972 Stokes was made a Commandre de l'Ordre de Leopold II in recognition of his services to the

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

economy. The ceremony took place at

Seneffe Seneffe (; wa, Sinefe) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. On 1 January 2006 Seneffe had a total population of 10,743. The total area is 62.77 km² which gives a population density of 171 inhabitants p ...

(between

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

and

Mons Mons (; German and nl, Bergen, ; Walloon and pcd, Mont) is a city and municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the province of Hainaut, Belgium. Mons was made into a fortified city by Count Baldwin IV of Hainaut in the 12th century. T ...

) where a new extension to the

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 partly ...

plant was being inaugurated. Lord Stokes died on 21 July 2008, aged 94.

British Leyland under Stokes

Stokes was essentially a salesman, and he successfully led Leyland Motor Corporation in the period up to 1968. During this time he was immensely successful in developing export sales and establishing overseas subsidiaries. This established his stature as a captain of industry especially in the eyes of prime minister Harold Wilson. Wilson encouraged him to merge Leyland with BMC however he never really got to grips with the scale and politics of

, which had now incorporated BMC,

Rover Rover may refer to: People * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Places * Rover, Arkansas, US * Rover, Missouri, US * ...

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large cat species and the only living member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the largest cat species in the Americas and the th ...

and related commercial vehicle marques with nearly 40 factories and over 100 business units. His efforts to bring in senior executives from competitors were only partially successful, and persistent infighting (such as the discrimination against MG in allocating investment funding in favour of Triumph) whilst the inherent unprofitability of BMC sapped the competitive position of the new business. Meanwhile, Leyland Motor Corporation's new engine policy of the late 1960s had failed, with the AEC V8 and the Rover Gas Turbine being dropped by 1973 and the Leyland 500 series fixed head engine confined to lower-powered, mainly bus applications before being dropped in 1979; the thirst of the gas turbine and the unreliability of the V8 (which had been rushed to market as an under-developed unit) and the 500-series cost sales and enabled

Scania Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skån ...

and

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

to enter the UK market. Both before and during his period of leadership, the British motor industry suffered from poor profitability, which went hand in hand with chronic lack of investment in production technologies and facilities. In 1975, towards the end of Stokes' time at the helm of the company, a journalist compared the published number of employees and the published number of cars produced by various automakers,

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

produced 36 cars per employee while

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a producti ...

produced nearly 23: BLMC produced slightly more than four cars per employee in 1975 as against more than 7 for

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

's UK plants. Factors such as the variable extent of dependence on brought-in sub-assemblies made the comparison imperfect, but the continuing lack of profitability resulting from continuing failure to invest intelligently in up to date production processes was all too real. This was a part of the background to BL's famously awful industrial relations during the 1970s. Characteristic BL introductions included the

Morris Marina The Morris Marina is a front-engined, rear-wheel-drive small family car that was manufactured by the Austin-Morris division of British Leyland from 1971 until 1980. It served to replace the Morris Minor in the Morris product line, which ...

and

Austin Allegro The Austin Allegro is a small family car that was manufactured by the Austin-Morris division of British Leyland from 1973 until 1982. The same vehicle was built in Italy by Innocenti between 1974 and 1975 and sold as the Innocenti Regent. The Al ...

inspired respectively by the more thoughtfully developed and charismatic

Ford Cortina The Ford Cortina is a medium-sized family car that was built initially by Ford of Britain, and then Ford of Europe in various guises from 1962 to 1982, and was the United Kingdom's best-selling car of the 1970s. The Cortina was produced in fiv ...

and

Citroën GS The GS is a front-engine, front-drive, four or five door, five passenger family car manufactured and marketed by Citroën in two series: for model years 1970-1979 in fastback saloon and estate bodystyles and subsequently as the GSA for model yea ...

competitor products.

Arms

References

External links and sources

Obituary in ''The Times''

Obituary in ''The Guardian''

UK Parliamentary Biographies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stokes, Donald 1914 births 2008 deaths Businesspeople from Plymouth, Devon People educated at Blundell's School British Leyland people Crossbench life peers Life peers created by Elizabeth II Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers officers British Army personnel of World War II Alumni of the University of Central Lancashire Commanders of the Order of Leopold II Leyland Motors Knights Bachelor 20th-century English businesspeople Engineers from Plymouth, Devon