John Leonard King
John Leonard King, Baron King of Wartnaby (1917–2005), businessman
1917 Born on 21 June 1917 in Cropredy, near Banbury, Oxfordshire, the son of Jane King, a domestic servant
Attended school at Dunsfold, Surrey
c.1933 Left school without qualifications and found manual employment in engineering and motor workshops locally.
Became a car salesman for Coombs Garage in Guildford, owned by Arthur Sykes
c.1936 started his own business, Whitehouse Motors, with finance from some local builders and helped by a Ford sub-agency from Sykes.
WWII the motor business failed but an engineering sideline, manufacturing components for aero engines, continued and expanded. Crucially King managed to secure access to modern American machine tools provided through the lend-lease programme. These gave him a major advantage when the war ended.
1941 Married Lorna Kathleen Sykes (d. 1969) - they had three sons and one daughter.
Post-WWII Switched production to Yorkshire, establishing Whitehouse Industries at Ferrybridge, in a depressed mining area, bringing skilled engineers from the midlands to train his workforce. He later called this a social experiment: "the Beveridge report was kicking around and the idea of doing something appealed" [1]. At first he turned out miscellaneous products, from ballpoint pens to steel ladders
Soon moved into manufacturing ball-bearings, later taking over Pollard Bearings
By 1949 Whitehouse Industries was a subsidiary of W. E. Hughes and Co, which later became Ferrybridge Industries and then Pollard Ball and Roller Bearing Co.
c.1962 King became chairman of Pollards[2]
King built Pollard Ball and Roller Bearing Co into the country's third largest ball-bearing manufacturer and sought a merger with the Swedish SKF company but the Industrial Reorganization Corporation intervened in 1969 to compel a merger of the three largest British companies.
1969 King made a personal gain of £3 million from the deal but that year his wife, Lorna, died.
1970 21 September: he married the Hon. Isabel Cynthia Monckton (b. 1926).
Bought into Dennis, the fire engine and dustcart manufacturer, becoming its chairman. He was also a director of Skefko
1970 Became chairman of Babcock and Wilcox which he encouraged to diversify.
1973 Chair of the Conservative Party's city and industrial liaison council; he sat on the review board for government contracts, and was knighted in 1979.
1979 Appointed to the National Enterprise Board, of which he became chairman in 1980, with the brief to run it down,
1981 Achieved the post he had lobbied for as chairman of British Airways.
1983 made a life peer, as Baron King of Wartnaby
Re-directed British Airways with the help of smart branding and advertising, a dedication to customer service, and powerful financial engineering. Overall staff numbers shrank from 52,000 to 37,500 in two years.
By 1992 British Airways' turnover had more than doubled compared with when he arrived, and the airline was well in profit.
1993 Retired from the chairmanship at BA after a damaging legal battle with Virgin Atlantic
1994 stepped down as chairman of Babcocks, becoming president.
2005 died of heart failure at home, Friars Well, Wartnaby.
See Also
Sources of Information
- Biography of John Leonard King, ODNB