Harry Pilkington
 Harry Pilkington    ( businessman) | ||||||||||
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| Born | 29 April 1905 | |||||||||
| Died | 23 December 1983 (Age 78) | |||||||||
| Nationality | UK | |||||||||
| Alma mater | • Rugby School • Magdalene College (Cambridge) | |||||||||
| Religion | Congregationalist | |||||||||
| Siblings | • Roger Pilkington • Lawrence Pilkington | |||||||||
| Member of | Pilkington Committee on Broadcasting | |||||||||
Attended the first Bilderberg as President of the Federation of British Industries, and two more in the 1950s
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William Henry Pilkington, Baron Pilkington was a UK industrialist and president of the Federation of British Industries. In 1954 Pilkington attended the first Bilderberg.[1]
Contents
Background
Pilkington was born in St Helens, Lancashire, the eldest son of Richard Austin Pilkington (1871-1951), a director of the family glass-manufacturing business, Pilkington Brothers Ltd,[2] and his wife, Hope (1876-1947), daughter of the politician and judge Herbert Cozens-Hardy, 1st Baron Cozens-Hardy.[3]
His younger brother, Lawrence, would join him as a director of the family business; the third brother was the biologist and writer Roger Pilkington.[4] The Pilkington family was Congregationalist.[5]
Education
He was educated at Rugby School and Magdalene College, Cambridge.[1]
Pilkington Brothers Ltd
Pilkington joined the board of the family business, Pilkington Brothers Ltd, in 1934 and was its chairman from 1949 to 1973. This glass manufacturing company became the lone survivor of twenty-four British glass manufacturers from the 19th century. While other companies died from competition, the Pilkington company advanced its techniques, especially in safety glass and glass sheets, using the company's proprietary float glass process.[6] In 1967 the company controlled 85% of the glass-making business in the United Kingdom and exported its products to over 100 countries.
He was a Governor of the Bank of England[7][8]
Pilkington Report
The Pilkington Report concluded that the British public were not being well-served by commercial television due to what it regarded as its American-influenced programming (such as westerns). It further concluded that although the British public had not been explicitly asked whether they wanted commercial radio, there was no evidence to support the contention that they wanted it. The unintended result of this conclusion was the creation of offshore commercial pirate radio in 1964. It also commended the BBC for the high quality of its television programming and recommended that the franchise for the-then third television channel should be granted to the BBC (which opened as BBC 2 in 1964), rather than to a commercial operator.
Personal life
In 1930, Pilkington married Rosamond[9] Margaret, daughter of Royal Army Medical Corps Colonel Henry Davis Rowan of Rathmore, Greystones, County Wicklow, Ireland. Rosamond died in 1953, having had with her husband a son and two daughters. He subsequently married Mavis Joy Doreen, daughter of master reed-maker Gilbert Caffrey of Woodleigh, Lostock Park, Bolton, and former wife of Dr John Hesketh Wilding.[10][11][12][13]
Events Participated in
| Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilderberg/1954 | 29 May 1954 | 31 May 1954 | Netherlands Hotel Bilderberg Oosterbeek | The first Bilderberg meeting, attended by 68 men from Europe and the US, including 20 businessmen, 25 politicians, 5 financiers & 4 academics. |
| Bilderberg/1956 | 11 May 1956 | 13 May 1956 | Denmark Fredensborg | The 4th Bilderberg meeting, with 147 guests, in contrast to the generally smaller meetings of the 1950s. Has two Bilderberg meetings in the years before and after |
| Bilderberg/1959 | 18 September 1959 | 20 September 1959 | Turkey Yesilkoy | The 8th Bilderberg and the first in Turkey. 60 guests. |
References
- ↑ a b "Obituary: Lord Pilkington". The Times. 23 December 1983. p. 12.
- ↑ The Directory of Directors, Thomas Skinner & Co., 1927, p. 1242
- ↑ Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, ed. Peter Townend, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1970, p. 1248
- ↑ Burke's Landed Gentry, 14th edition, ed. Alfred T. Butler, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1925, p. 1353
- ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/24/arts/roger-pilkington-british-author-88.html
- ↑ http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/36/Pilkington-plc.htm
- ↑ https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbm.2022.0025
- ↑ https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1965-03-04/debates/406ccdc5-540a-42b7-99b4-269566cf4c49/BankOfEngland(CourtOfDirectors)
- ↑ Published sources give both this spelling and "Rosamund"
- ↑ Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage, Debrett's Peerage Ltd, 1973, p. 893
- ↑ Dod's Parliamentary Companion, 136th edition, 1968, p. 218
- ↑ Glass Technology, vol. 25, collected issues 2-6, 1984, p. 54
- ↑ The International Year Book and Statesman's Who's Who, International Publications Service, 1983, p. 540
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