Julian Edward Alfred Mond, 3rd Baron Melchett

Julian Edward Alfred Mond, 3rd Baron Melchett (9 January 1925 — June 1973) was an English industrialist who became the third Baron Melchett on the death of his father in 1949.

Early life

Julian Mond was the younger son of Henry Mond, 2nd Baron Melchett and Gwen Wilson. He was educated at Eton College and, rather than go to university, he joined the Fleet Air Arm in 1942. Here he served in the Atlantic and on the Russian convoys.Greenaway, Frank, (2004) 'Mond family ("per". 1867-1973)', "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/51124] Retrieved on 9 March 2007.]

Business career

After leaving the services, Mond joined Air Contractors Ltd: a subsidiary of the merchant bank M Samuel & Co. A year later, in 1948, supported by the bank, he founded a farming company based in Norfolk: British Field Products Limited which specialised in grass-drying and animal feed-stuffs. Mond soon after joined the merchant bankers M. Samuel & Co. This company merged with Philip Hill, Higginson and Erlanger Ltd to form Hill Samuel & Co. Limited and Mond became director in charge of the banking and overseas departments. He was also a director of the Guardian Assurance Company and of the Anglo-American Shipping Co Ltd. He was adviser to the British Transport Docks Board, he was on the council of administration of the Malta Dockyard and on the councils of the Confederation of British Industry and the National Economic Development Council.

In 1966 Harold Wilson asked him to be chairman of a committee to plan the nationalization of the British steel industry and from that time until his death he was effectively the chairman of what became the British Steel Corporation. This was formed from fourteen major iron and steel companies and other smaller ones who together employed more than a quarter of a million workers.

Personal and family

In 1947 he married Sonia Elizabeth Graham and they had one son, Peter Robert Henry Mond, and two daughters. For most of their married life they lived in Tite Street, Chelsea, London and on a farm, Courtyard, at Ringstead, Hunstanton, Norfolk. They built a villa, Casa Melchett, near Formentor in Majorca and took family holidays there. Julian Mond died while on holiday there in June 1973 and was buried in the family mausoleum in St Pancras cemetery, Finchley. A memorial service was held for him in Westminster Abbey. His estate was valued at slightly over £310,000.

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