Harold Atcherley

{{short description|British businessman, public figure and arts administrator (1918-2017)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Sir Harold Atcherley

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name = Harold Winter Atcherley

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1918|08|30}}

| birth_place = [Epsom England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2017|01|29|1918|08|30}}

| death_place = London, England

| nationality = British

| other_names =

| occupation = Businessman, public figure, arts administrator

| alma_mater = Geneva University
Heidelberg University

| education = Gresham's School

| father = L. W. Atcherley

| mother = Maude Lester Nash

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Anita Helen Leslie|1946|1990|end=divorce}}
{{marriage|Elke Jessett|1990|2004|end=died}}
{{marriage|Sarah Mordant|2005}}

}}

| children = 4

| years_active =

| known_for =

| notable_works =

| module = {{infobox military person

| embed = yes

| branch = {{army|United Kingdom}}

| unit = {{nowrap|Queen's Westminster Rifles (1939–1940)}}
Intelligence Corps (1940)
18th Infantry Division

| battles = World War II

| rank =

}}

Sir Harold Winter Atcherley (30 August 1918 – 29 January 2017) was a businessman, public figure and arts administrator in the United Kingdom.

Early life

The son of L. W. Atcherley and his wife Maude Lester Nash, Atcherley was educated at Gresham's School, Holt, Geneva University, and Heidelberg University.[http://www.xreferplus.com/entry.jsp?xrefid=6083830 ATCHERLEY, Sir Harold Winter]{{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} in Who Was Who online at xreferplus.com (accessed 9 November 2007)

Career

Atcherley joined Royal Dutch Shell in 1937. From 1939, he served through the Second World War in the Queen's Westminster Rifles (1939–1940) and the Intelligence Corps, 1940, then in the 18th Infantry Division in Singapore. After the fall of Singapore in 1942 he became a prisoner of war of the Japanese and worked on the Burma Railway until the war ended in 1945, then in 1946 he returned to Royal Dutch Shell. With that company he served in Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Argentina, and Brazil until 1959 and was the RDS Group's Personnel co-ordinator from 1964 until 1970.[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20010915/ai_n14413912/pg_1 The Week That Shook The World: Letter: A lesson for the US] in The Independent dated 15 September 2001, online

He was Recruitment Advisor to the Ministry of Defence, 1970–1971, and Chairman of Tyzack & Partners, 1979–1985. He was also a director of British Home Stores, 1973–1987. In retirement, as of 2008 he lived in London.[http://www.burkes-peerage.net/familyhomepage.aspx?FID=0&FN=ATCHERLEY SIR HAROLD WINTER ATCHERLEY] at burkes-peerage.net (accessed 8 June 2008) Atcherley died on 29 January 2017, aged 98.[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2017/02/01/sir-harold-atcherley-businessman-former-pow-obituary/ Sir Harold Atcherley, businessman and former PoW – obituary]

Appointments

Chairman, Armed Forces' Pay Review Body (1971–1982)
Chairman, Police Negotiating Board (1983–1986)
Member, Top Salaries Review Body, 1971–1987
Chairman, Aldeburgh Festival, 1989–1994
Chairman, Toynbee Hall, 1985–1990 (Member of Management Committee, 1979–1990)
Member, National Staff Committee for Nurses and Midwives, 1973–1977
Member, Committee of Inquiry into Pay and Related Conditions of Service of Nurses, 1974
Member, Committee of Inquiry into Remuneration of Members of Local Authorities, 1977
Vice-Chairman, Suffolk Wildlife Trust, 1987–1990
Member of Management Committee, Suffolk Rural Housing Association, 1984–1987
Chairman, Suffolk and North Essex Branch, European Movement, 1995–1998, and President since 1998

Honours

Empress Leopoldina Medal (Brazil), 1958
Knighthood, 1977 Silver Jubilee and Birthday Honours

Family

Atcherley married first, in 1946, Anita Helen Leslie. They had one son and two daughters and divorced in 1990. He married secondly, in 1990, Elke Jessett, the daughter of Carl Langbehn (she died in 2004). He married thirdly, in 2005, Sarah Mordant.

Publications

[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Prisoner-Japan-Personal-Singapore-1941-1945/dp/1909304530 War Diary: Singapore, Siam & Burma, 1941-1945], illustrated by Ronald Searle (London, Harold Atcherley, 2004)
Euro paean: In 1998, Atcherley wrote in The Independent in support of Britain joining the European single currency.[http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20010906/ai_n14413264 Euro paean] in The Independent dated 9 November 1998
In the aftermath of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, Atcherley, writing in The Independent, ascribed the fundamental causes of the disaster to the non-observation by the British government of the Balfour Declaration. He wrote to The Times on 3 August 2006: "How can the Israelis, Bush and Blair think they can ever achieve lasting peace in the Middle East by allowing Israel to continue its futile attempt to 'defeat' Hezbollah? ...Unless military action is replaced by negotiation, I can only see disastrous consequences for our relations with the Muslim world."[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/letters/article698170.ece Can the American vision of democracy help to find a lasting peace in the Middle East?]{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} from timesonline.co.uk
On 6 September 2001, a letter from Atcherley was published in London's The Independent newspaper, headed Reports of my death... and enquiring why for two years running the newspaper had failed to include his name in its Today's Birthdays column. He suggested:[http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20010906/ai_n14413264 Reports of my death...] in The Independent dated 6 September 2001

{{cquote|It occurs to me that it may be because I am dead without being aware of it. This is perhaps too fanciful, if only because, as far as I am aware, my name has not yet appeared in your Deaths section... My own hunch is that my supreme unimportance may have something to do with it.}}

His birthday, however, has continued to be reported in The Times.[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,61-2333847,00.html Court and Social page]{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} in The Times online for 30 August 2006

References

[https://web.archive.org/web/20060929111609/http://www.aldeburgh.co.uk/home.cfm Aldeburgh Productions (formerly the Aldeburgh Foundation] - official site
[http://calbears.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19960924/ai_n14065712 Letter to The Independent, 24 September 1996]{{dead link|date=May 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927213611/http://www.badische-zeitung.de/lokales/lokalausgaben/n246rdlicherbreisgau/1,51-11156198.html Badische-Zeitung.de]

Category:1918 births

Category:2017 deaths

Category:Military personnel from Norfolk

Category:British Army personnel of World War II

Category:British expatriates in Germany

Category:British expatriates in Switzerland

Category:British expatriates in Myanmar

Category:British expatriates in Egypt

Category:British expatriates in Syria

Category:British expatriates in Lebanon

Category:British expatriates in Brazil

Category:British expatriates in Argentina