Leslie O'Brien, Baron O'Brien of Lothbury

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Leslie Kenneth O'Brien, Baron O'Brien of Lothbury GBE PC (born February 8, 1908 in Dulwich , London , † November 24, 1995 in Redhill , Surrey ) was a British banker who was governor of the Bank of England between 1966 and 1973 was and from 1973 was a Life Peer member of the House of Lords .

Life

O'Brien was after visiting the Wandsworth School 1927 employee of the Bank of England and spent his whole career until 1973. After he was from 1951 to 1955, first deputy chief cashier, he served from 1955 to 1962 as chief cashier ( Chief Cashier ). He was then Executive Director between 1962 and 1964 and then Deputy Governor.

In 1966 O'Brien succeeded Rowland Baring, 3rd Earl of Cromer himself, and held this position until he was replaced by Gordon Richardson in 1973. In 1967 he was knighted as Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire and from then on carried the suffix "Sir". In 1970 he also became Privy Councilor .

During his tenure as Governor of the Bank of England , the pound sterling had to be devalued again in 1967 because the country had fallen behind in world trade and as a result its balance of payments had deteriorated over the years. On November 18, 1967, the pound sterling lost 17 percent of its value as the British government refused to accept deflationary measures demanded by the International Monetary Fund to increase lending. The devaluation of the pound sterling and the enormous loss of value of the US dollar against the gold standard led to the final collapse of the Bretton Woods system in the early 1970s .

In 1971 the Bank of England renounced the instrument of credit capping , but received the instrument of the minimum reserve . On February 15, 1971, the English coin system based on the Carolingian coin system , which had existed since the 9th century, was replaced by the internationally common decimal system. Since then, one pound sterling has been divided into 100 pence

After completing his duties as Governor of the Bank of England, a letters patent dated March 14, 1973 raised him as Baron O'Brien of Lothbury , of the City of London , to a life peer within the meaning of the Life Peerages Act 1958 . He thereby became a member of the House of Lords for life. During this time he was President of the British Bankers' Association from 1973 to 1980 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "A brief History of the Bretton Woods System" Article by MJ Stephey, October 21, 2008 on time.com. Retrieved November 24, 2009
personal data
SURNAME O'Brien, Leslie, Baron O'Brien of Lothbury
ALTERNATIVE NAMES O'Brien, Leslie Kenneth, Baron O'Brien of Lothbury (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British banker and finance manager
DATE OF BIRTH February 8, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Dulwich , London
DATE OF DEATH November 24, 1995
Place of death Redhill , Surrey