St Edward's Rhubarb - 2018

ST EDWARD’S r h u b a r b

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Michael Graham Ruddock Sandberg was born at Thames Ditton on May 31st 1927. His father Gerald worked in the Bank of England, serving for some years as chief cashier of its Hull branch; Gerald Sandberg’s grandfather was a migrant from the province of Posen in Prussia who became an Anglican priest. Michael was educated at St Edward’s School, Oxford, and was commissioned into the Royal Armoured Corps in 1945. Posted to India, he found the way of life to his liking and transferred to the Indian Army’s 6th Lancers; after India’s independence, he served with the 1st King’s Dragoon Guards in Palestine and Libya. On leaving the Army in 1949 he joined the Hongkong Bank in London and took ship to Hong Kong for training. His first posting was to Tokyo, and his next to Singapore – where in 1956 his manager noted him as “a man of distinct ability and intelligence, well in excess of his years … a man for the future”. With characteristic self-deprecation, Sandberg himself attributed rapid promotion to “shortage of staff after the war”. By the late 1960s he was chief accountant (effectively senior lending officer) in Hong Kong, and in 1973 he became deputy chairman under the chairmanship – necessarily cautious in turbulent economic times – of Guy Sayer. The change of leadership style from Sayer to Sandberg was signalled by the new chairman’s determination to redevelop the bank’s headquarters on Queen's Road Central. The old offices dating from 1935, he declared, were “like a suit one could no longer fit into” whereas the bank deserved “a top-of-the-pops building” of which all Hong Kong could be proud. After a competition among world-leading design firms, Norman Foster was appointed in 1979 to create what came

He was also keen to ensure that Smith of Derby played an appropriately positive and supportive role in the British Horological Institute, being the largest public clock company in the country by some margin. Commercially Nick understood the vital importance of marketing, investment in R&D and technology, and the development and support of young talent across the business. However, having seen five periods of major economic downturn he also understood that there were moments when very painful decisions were required in order to keep the company secure. While resp ecting the traditional side of the company’s work Nick was not satisfied to see it restrict itself to the maintenance and conservation of existing turret clocks. He worked hard to win export and other new business, and won notable contracts for new installations of landmark clocks all over the world. In parallel Nick invested time and resources in product innovations that could better serve the estate of several thousand ‘traditional’ customers across the British Isles. One important example addressed problems of time-keeping loss or gain accumulation. Accuracy would previously have been addressed regularly by clock winders, but they became more difficult to find through the latter decades of the twentieth century, and Auto Wind units had increasingly been introduced to keep clocks working. Nick worked with colleagues to devise a solution: this took the form of a very small adjustable weight mounted on the pendulum with electronic controls which could be triggered by the first blow of the hour striking. The weight then rose to speed up the clock (if slow) or fell. Later, a global positioning system (GPS) sensor was fitted to allow for complete accuracy.

to be seen as a masterpiece of modern office architecture, noted for the elegance of its modular steel structure and its use of natural light. It remains a powerful symbol of the bank’s presence at the heart of Hong Kong’s business life. Sandberg was created OBE in 1977, raised to CBE in 1982 and knighted in 1986. Chairmanship of the bank brought him ex officio membership of Hong Kong’s Executive Council, and he was also a steward and chairman of the Royal Hong Kong Jockey Club and treasurer of Hong Kong University. After his return to England he became an active fundraiser for the Liberal Democrat party – not least from wealthy Asian business friends. Sandberg was created a life peer in 1997; he retired from the House of Lords in 2015. He was a keen follower of racing and cricket, and was president of Surrey County Cricket Club in 1998. He also kept a beautiful garden at his Hampshire home. But his most distinctive pastime was horology: over many years he acquired more than 400 timepieces made by craftsmen from the 16th to the 20th Century, including musical watches with automaton scenes, often made for the Chinese market, and more esoteric “erotic watches”. As ever, Sandberg played down his expertise: “I buy these because I’m not smart enough to know whether that vase over there is a Ming.” But the watch collection proved to be worth $13 million when it was auctioned in Geneva in 2001. Michael Sandberg married, in Ireland in 1954, Carmel Donnelly, who survives him with their two sons and two daughters. SMITH – On 12th February 2018, John Nicholas Wilkins Smith (D, 1949-1954). The following obituary comes from Prof. Joe Smith, with advice from family and colleagues.

O B I T U A R I E S

Nick Smith gave almost his entire professional life to supporting the turret clock making company founded by his great great grandfather, John Smith. In his school years he had regularly joined his father Howard when inspecting turret clocks in churches and public buildings around the country, or down at John Smith and Sons’ Queen Street clock works. This pattern was repeated with his own children many years later. After training as an accountant, and graduating as the top student in the region, Nick travelled to Canada to gain international business experience. However upon the death of his uncle Alan in 1961 he returned to help his father at the clock works in Derby. He was closely involved in the running of Smith of Derby from that point, and took on the role of managing director on Howard’s retirement in March 1975. In 1981 he was made a Freeman, and the following year a Liveryman, of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers and subsequently joined its Court. In 1994 he was elected Master. During this time he paid particular attention to apprentice training and the development of professional certification within the industry. Nick Smith in the Derby Works, Queen Street in July 1944 with the hour hammer from the St Paul's Cathedral Clock