Ernest Debenham, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Ernest Debenham

English businessman

Date of Birth: 26-May-1865

Place of Birth: Marylebone, England, United Kingdom

Date of Death: 25-Dec-1952

Profession: businessperson, politician

Zodiac Sign: Gemini


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About Ernest Debenham

  • Sir Ernest Ridley Debenham, 1st Baronet (26 May 1865 – 25 December 1952), was an English businessman.
  • He was responsible for the considerable expansion of the family's retail and wholesale drapery firm between 1892 and 1927.
  • Born at 42 Wigmore Street, Marylebone, he was the son of Frank Debenham and his wife Emma Folkard née Ridley.
  • Educated at Marlborough College and Trinity College, Cambridge, At the age of 27 he joined the successful business of Debenham & Co., which had been run by his grandfather and father.
  • His restructuring activities led to the splitting of the manufacturing from the retail side of the business, under the name Debenham & Freebody (Freebody was the maiden name of his grandmother).
  • He effected a merger with Marshall & Snelgrove as well as a takeover of Harvey Nichols.
  • He was noted for his paternalistic attitude towards his staff, providing medical and educational support.
  • He was also a pioneer in the dairy industry.On 8 November 1892 he married Cicely Kenrick (1869–1950), daughter of William Kenrick.
  • The couple had eight children, including the artist Alison Debenham.Debenham had an interest in politics, and was a supporter of the Conservative Party.
  • Although he considered entering parliament his business interests prevented this.
  • He did enter local politics however.
  • He was a member of St Marylebone Borough Council, serving as mayor of the borough in 1910-12.
  • He was also a member of the London County Council.
  • He was elected unopposed at a by-election on 28 February 1912 for the Conservative-backed Municipal Reform party to represent the Marylebone East division, remaining a councillor until 1919. On his retirement in 1927 he sold most of his shares in the firm for £1.8M, so severing his family's connections with the retail chain that still bears his name.
  • He devoted the rest of his life to dairy farming on his estates in Dorset.
  • He was created a baronet, of Bladen in the County of Dorset, in 1931.
  • He died on Christmas Day 1952 at Moor Lane House, Briantspuddle, Dorset, and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son, Piers Kenrick Debenham, born in 1904.

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