Sir Henry Saxon Tate
Sir Saxon Tate, 5th Bt, who has died in 2012 aged 80, was managing director of his family’s Tate & Lyle sugar empire, and was later chairman of the London Futures & Options Exchange. "Saxon Tate continued to serve as vice-chairman until 1982 and as a director until 1999...Saxon, whose Christian name came from his maternal grandfather, Saxon Gregson-Ellis, was educated at Eton and did National Service as a lieutenant in the Life Guards . He then went up to Christ Church, Oxford, to read History but in due course told his tutor, Hugh Trevor-Roper, that he had decided to abandon his studies to start work at Tate & Lyle — to which the great historian replied: “Saxon, illiteracy is no bar to a brilliant career.”
"After stepping down as vice-chairman of Tate & Lyle in 1982, Tate diverted briefly to Zimbabwe to meet Robert Mugabe and his political rival Joshua Nkomo in the hope of securing the release of six tourists, including his own nephew James Greenwell, who had been kidnapped by suspected Nkomo supporters. To no avail: the tourists’ bodies were found three years later. Meanwhile, Tate had been headhunted to become chief executive of the newly formed Industrial Development Board of Northern Ireland, successor to the Northern Ireland Development Agency which had channelled more than £80 million into the ill-fated DeLorean sports car company. At a time of high unemployment, factory closures and endemic sectarian violence, Tate brought a note of can-do optimism to the depressed province...
"He moved on to his last high-profile role as chairman of the London Commodity Exchange, which traditionally traded in sugar, coffee and cocoa but embarked under his stewardship on an ambitious programme of expansion. A move to new premises in Docklands in 1987 was accompanied by a rebranding as the London Futures and Options Exchange (with the acronym Fox) and the introduction of new trading contracts and “local” traders to enhance the market’s liquidity. But the introduction of real-estate futures contracts in 1991 led to scandal when it was discovered that trading volumes had been artificially boosted, and Tate felt obliged to resign alongside the executive who admitted responsibility...Saxon Tate succeeded in the baronetcy in 1994. He married first, in 1953, Sheila Robertson, with whom he had four sons. The marriage was dissolved in 1975, and Sheila died in 1987. He married secondly, in 1975, Virginia Sturm. His eldest son, Edward, born in 1966, inherits the title; his second son, Duncan, works for Tate & Lyle Sugars, which was acquired in 2010 by American Sugar Refining Inc. " [1]
