Edward George, Baron George

Edward Alan John George, Baron George, GBE, PC, DL (16 September 1938 – 18 April 2009^[1]), known as Eddie George, or "Steady Eddie", was Governor of the Bank of England from 1993 to 2003^[1] and sat on the board of Rothschild.

Personal life

George was born and grew up in Carshalton, the son of Post Office clerk Alan and wife Olive. He attended the independent school Dulwich College on a scholarship. He carried out his National Service at the Joint Services School for Linguists, where he learnt to speak Russian.

Having graduated from Emmanuel College, Cambridge, he joined the Bank of England in 1962. Apart from secondments to Moscow State University, the Bank for International Settlements and the International Monetary Fund, he remained there throughout his career.

He married Vanessa George, Lady George (née Williams) in Surrey in 1962. They had been sweethearts since the age of 14.

On 18 April 2009, George, a heavy smoker, died of lung cancer.^[2] He is survived by his wife, their son Hon. Edward and two daughters Hon. Elizabeth.^[1]

Financial career

George was appointed Governor of the Bank of England in 1993, succeeding Robin Leigh-Pemberton, now Lord Kingsdown, and retired on the completion of his second five-year term of office on 30 June 2003. During his governance, the Bank was given independence in setting UK interest rates by Gordon Brown, the incoming Chancellor of the Exchequer after the 1997 general election.^[1]

He was succeeded as Governor of the Bank of England in July 2003 by Mervyn King. He was knighted in 2000 and given a life peerage in June 2004^[1] as Baron George, of St Tudy in the County of Cornwall.^[3][4][5] He was awarded an honorary D.Sc. by the University of Buckingham on 4 March 2000, and appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Cornwall in March 2006.

George served as a Governor of his former school, Dulwich College, between 1998 and 2008, and served as the Chairman of the Governors between 2003 and 2008.^[6][7]

George attracted controversy in 1998 when he was widely reported to have made a statement to London newspaper executives implying that unemployment in the north of England was a price worth paying in order to preserve affluence in the south of the country. He later claimed that his remarks had been misconstrued.^[8]

The new block (Lord George building) is named after him.

References