Jasper Knight

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Jasper Frederic Knight (born October 3, 1909 in London ; January 27, 1972 in Little Colstrope ) was a British manager.

Life and activity

Knight attended Eton boarding school and studied at Oxford University, which he left in 1930 with a bachelor's degree. From 1931 to 1939 he worked for the auditing firm Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. in London. He then became a manager at the Unilever Group in London.

During World War II , Knight assumed the post of Finance Director of the UK Department of Food with the rank of Assistant Secretary. Later he was additionally (?) Headed the department for oils and fats (Oil and Fats Division) of this ministry. Due to the shortage of raw materials - and the associated rationing of raw materials - this was of particular importance during the war.

The intelligence surveillance organs of National Socialist Germany classified Knight because of his position as important enough to put him on the special wanted list GB , a list of persons who were particularly dangerous (or particularly hated) to the leadership of the SS and the Gestapo, who were in the In the event of a successful invasion and occupation of the British Isles by the Wehrmacht, SS Special Commands should automatically and priority be found and arrested.

After the war Knight, who has been described as a "capitalist Bevin ", returned to the Unilever Group, for which he held various managerial positions until the late 1960s: he was chief accountant and chief financial officer of the group and finally director of the entire Unilever Ltd and the Dutch subsidiary Unilever NV In October 1970 he retired. Instead, he took over the chairmanship of the Unilever subsidiary Spey.

Knight sat on various boards of directors and was also a member of the Council of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England (ICA) (1966-1970).

family

Knight had been with Elizabeth Margaret Wilson since April 27, 1935 with whom he had three children, Jasper James, Robert Andrew and Diana Margaret.

literature

  • World Who's who in Commerce and Industry , 1968, p. 768.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Entry about Knight on the special wanted list GB on the website of the Imperial War Museum in London .
  2. ^ Douglas Jay: Change and fortune: A Political Record , 1980, p. 142.
personal data
SURNAME Knight, Jasper
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Knight, Jasper Frederic (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British manager
DATE OF BIRTH October 3, 1909
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH January 27, 1972
Place of death Little Colstrope