Edward Mauger Iliffe
Edward Mauger Iliffe, 1st Baron Iliffe, GBE (17 May 1877 – 25 July 1960) was a British newspaper magnate, public servant and Conservative Member of Parliament.
1877 Born in Coventry, son of William Isaac Iliffe
c.1894 Joined the family firm (Iliffe and Son)
Served his proprietorial apprenticeship on the new Coventry Evening Telegraph.
1902 Married Charlotte Gilding (1876-1972), daughter of Henry Gilding JP, draper's buyer, of Gateacre, Liverpool. They had a daughter and two sons.
After his father died in 1917, he and his brother William Coker, expanded the business as Iliffe Press.
Wartime confidence in the company was reflected in Edward's willingness to be seconded to the Ministry of Munitions, where he spent the final two years of the First World War as controller of the machine tool department.
1918 His war efforts earned him a CBE
1922 Awarded a knighthood.
1923 Won Tamworth for the Conservatives; held the seat until 1929.
1924 he formed Allied Newspapers Ltd, in partnership with William and Gomer Berry. They bought from Lord Rothermere a clutch of provincial and metropolitan papers he had purchased from the first Sir Edward Hulton only a year earlier.
When these titles were later auctioned off they made Allied Newspapers Ltd a profit of £2.4 million, by which time the company had acquired the Sunday Times and the Daily Telegraph (1928).
Deputy Chairman of Allied Newspapers Ltd.
Late 1920s he fostered links between the Liberal–Conservative "coalition" and Coventry's major engineering employers.
1933 he was made a peer.
1937 falling sales and cash flow problems led to the breakup of Allied Newspapers, with Iliffe absorbing an assortment of titles into the family business. As part of the deal he acquired the well-established and highly lucrative Kelly's Directories.
Iliffe's last major acquisition was the holding company for the Birmingham Post and the Birmingham Mail, and in 1943 he became chairman.
Edward was president and the principal proprietor of the and owner of the Coventry Evening Telegraph and the Cambridge Daily News.
Iliffe was also Chairman of Iliffe and Sons, a Director of London Insurance and a Member of Lloyd's.
1960 Died in the Middlesex Hospital, London; his eldest son, Edward Langton Iliffe (1908–1996), succeeded to the title and the chairmanship of Coventry Newspapers Ltd.
See Also
Sources of Information
- Wikipedia
- Biography of Edward Mauger Iliffe, ODNB