[R-P] Obituario para una clase social

[Julio Fernández Baraibar]

He recibido este recorte de The Guardian, y me resultado delicioso,
razón por la cual no he podido resistirme a la tentación de enviarlo a
la lista, pese a estar escrito en inglés y no referirse a ninguna
información de, por así decir, actualidad.
Pero es la radiografía de todo un sistema social, de una clase social
inglesa y europea, con su estilo de vida, su bajo perfil, su educación
en Eton, el cumplimiento de sus deberes cívicos en las fuerzas armadas,
sus hobbies -la caza de faisanes, por ejemplo-, sus vinculaciones con el
Partido Conservador -de quien fue el salvador financiero-, su origen y
relaciones con la burguesía del continente -la familia Wallenberg de
Suecia-.
Leer este obituario es casi como leer una novela de Galsworthy.
"Como la mayoría de los otros grandes nombres de la banca comercial
Británica, Hambro fue incapaz de enfrentar el avance de sus rivales
americanos y continentales", dice el escriba obituarista.
Mi mensaje no pretende ser un homenaje a esta raza de chupasangres, sino
la invitación a compartir una mirada sobre el mundo de las clases
dominantes inglesas del siglo XX.

Julio Fernández Baraibar
julfb en sinectis.com.ar



> Obituary
> Lord Hambro
>
> City banker who got the Tories out of debt
>
> Roger Cowe
> Wednesday November 13, 2002
> The Guardian
>
> Lord Hambro, who has died aged 72, was the last family chairman of the
> merchant bank which bore his name. He also applied his financial
acumen and
> connections in the cause of the Conservative party, as its treasurer
in the
> difficult years between 1993 and 1997.
>
> As one of the last old-style merchant bankers, Hambro was a natural
Tory,
> which made him a rather uneasy bedfellow of many of those who took
over the
> party in the aftermath of Margaret Thatcher's demise. But his role was
> financial, not political; he was charged with rescuing the party from
the
> £19m overdraft run up in John Major's desperate, but successful, bid
to fend
> off the Labour party in 1992, for a fourth successive Tory election
win. His
> efforts were rewarded with a life peerage.
>
> The task meshed perfectly with Hambro's City job, where he had long
been
> generous with the money of the companies on whose boards he sat. Even
in
> those days, when big business contributions to the party were
commonplace,
> he was a long-serving member of some of the most free-spending boards.
He
> was, for example, a director of both the Guardian Royal Exchange
insurance
> company and the builder Taylor Woodrow for more than 30 years. From
1987, he
> also served for 12 years on the board of the shipping and distribution
group
> P&O, led by his friend and business associate Lord Sterling, who had
been a
> confidant of Mrs Thatcher.
>
> Charles Hambro was a great-great-grandson of the man who had moved
from
> Copenhagen to found the London branch of the family bank in 1839. The
> Scandinavian connection was lucrative for many years, although by the
time
> he joined the bank, in 1952, it had become a pillar of the City
> establishment, with a similar range of interests and influence as the
great
> names of Rothschild and Baring.
>
> Before he was two years old, Charles's mother died after catching
pneumonia
> while out riding, and his father remarried. His stepmother's
connection to
> the Wallenberg family enabled him to be evacuated to Sweden during the
> second world war. He spent the middle war years in the United States,
> staying with the great Morgan banking family, before returning to
England in
> 1943 to complete his education - and consolidate an invaluable
banker's
> network - at Eton. This classic City training continued with two
years'
> national service in the Coldstream Guards.
>
> After only five years at the bank, Hambro was appointed as a managing
> director, and became deputy chairman in 1965, at the age of 35. Seven
years
> later, he took over the chair, relinquishing it only in 1997 as the
bank's
> independence began to evaporate.
>
> He was in charge through interesting but turbulent times, beginning
with the
> stock market and property crash of 1973-74. Hambros was one of the
leading
> banks called in by the Bank of England to launch the financial
lifeboat
> which dealt with the collapse of the Slater Walker empire and saved
the
> financial system from collapse.
>
> As part of its modernisation during the 1980s, Hambros moved from its
> historic location in the heart of the City to modern premises near the
Tower
> of London. It was symbolic of the changing times, but the changes were
often
> not to the chairman's liking. "Sometimes I wonder whether we have been
so
> clever at all," he once mused.
>
> During the 1980s and 1990s the bank profited from the Conservatives'
> privatisation programme, advising on the flotation of Railtrack, among
> others. But Mrs Thatcher's government also ended the cosy City
cartels,
> opening up the market to international investment banks which were
fuelling
> and feeding off globalisation.
>
> In common with most of the other great names of British merchant
banking,
> Hambros was unable to deal with the onward march of its big American
and
> continental rivals. By the mid-1990s, its most successful operations
were
> the estate agency Hambro Countrywide and the insurance company Hambro
Life -
> and they were sold off as part of the bank's dismemberment in 1998.
While
> the name lives on as SG Hambros, it is now part of the French group
Société
> Générale.
>
> In keeping with his background and traditions, Hambro himself was a
> gentleman banker who maintained other interests and a relaxed outlook.
He
> did not spread himself thinly, preferring to maintain a few lengthy
> commitments. He was a trustee of the Royal National Pension Fund for
Nurses
> from 1968, and a trustee of the British Museum from 1984 to 1994.
>
> His style was low-key and affable and, while he inevitably regretted
the
> passing of the family bank and the old City, he continued to enjoy
life,
> particuarly on his Gloucestershire estate, which was renowned for
pheasant
> shooting. He listed his interests as shooting, farming and forestry.
>
> Hambro married his first wife, Rose, in 1954, and they had two sons
and a
> daughter. They were divorced in 1976, after which he married his
second
> wife, Cherry.
>
> · Charles Eric Alexander Hambro, Lord Hambro of Dixton and Dumbleton,
> merchant banker, born July 24 1930; died November 7 2002
>
>
>
>
>
>