Christopher Chancellor
Encyclopedia
Sir Christopher Chancellor (29 March 1904–9 September 1989), a British journalist and administrator, was general manager of the news agency Reuters
from 1944 to 1959. The Daily Telegraph
credited him for keeping the company running under extremely difficult wartime circumstances, noting that "It was largely thanks to Chancellor that Reuters had survived the war intact, despite the loss for several years of the greatest part of its world market." By 1951, at the firm's 100th anniversary, Chancellor was credited with tripling the agency's correspondents and revenues.
Chancellor was son of Lt. Col. Sir John Robert Chancellor
, GCMG, GCVO, GBE, DSO (1870–1952), a colonial administrator. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. Chancellor joined Reuters in 1930 and remained with the agency for 29 years.
Based in Shanghai
from 1931 to 1939 with his young family, he kept the agency's China service operating after the Japanese invasion in 1932. He returned to London during World War II
, and worked with William Moloney and William Haley in reorganizing Reuters' news and business operations, succeeding Sir Roderic Jones as the general manager of Reuters in 1944.
Chancellor was knighted in 1951. He died at Wincanton in southwest England, aged 85 years old, and was survived by his widow, his two sons and two daughters (the eldest having died young).
by his wife Lady Muriel Finch-Hatton, only surviving child of granddaughter maternally of the 12th Earl of Nottingham & Winchilsea
, who was himself descended from a sibling of Jane Austen
. His wife Lady Chancellor was made OBE 1976 for her philanthropic activities.
Children:
Chancellor's sister Rosemary married Air Chief Marshal
Sir William Elliott
, and was the mother of Simon John Elliot who is married to (Sonia) Annabel Shand, sister of HRH The Duchess of Cornwall.
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
from 1944 to 1959. The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
credited him for keeping the company running under extremely difficult wartime circumstances, noting that "It was largely thanks to Chancellor that Reuters had survived the war intact, despite the loss for several years of the greatest part of its world market." By 1951, at the firm's 100th anniversary, Chancellor was credited with tripling the agency's correspondents and revenues.
Chancellor was son of Lt. Col. Sir John Robert Chancellor
John Chancellor (British administrator)
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Robert Chancellor, GCMG, GCVO, GBE, DSO was a British soldier and colonial official.After a career in the British Army's Corps of Royal Engineers, which included service on the North West Frontier and being Secretary of the Colonial Defence Committee, he became a...
, GCMG, GCVO, GBE, DSO (1870–1952), a colonial administrator. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. Chancellor joined Reuters in 1930 and remained with the agency for 29 years.
Based in Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
from 1931 to 1939 with his young family, he kept the agency's China service operating after the Japanese invasion in 1932. He returned to London during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and worked with William Moloney and William Haley in reorganizing Reuters' news and business operations, succeeding Sir Roderic Jones as the general manager of Reuters in 1944.
Chancellor was knighted in 1951. He died at Wincanton in southwest England, aged 85 years old, and was survived by his widow, his two sons and two daughters (the eldest having died young).
Family
He was married in 1926 to Sylvia Mary Paget (1 July 1901 London - 26 October 1996 Shellingford, Oxfordshire), eldest daughter of Sir Richard Arthur Surtees Paget, 2nd BtPaget Baronets
There have been three Baronetcies created for persons with the surname Paget, all in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. Two of the creations are extant as of 2010....
by his wife Lady Muriel Finch-Hatton, only surviving child of granddaughter maternally of the 12th Earl of Nottingham & Winchilsea
Murray Finch-Hatton, 12th Earl of Winchilsea
Murray Edward Gordon Finch-Hatton, 12th Earl of Winchilsea and 7th Earl of Nottingham , styled the Hon. Murray Finch-Hatton until 1887, was a British Conservative politician and agriculturalist....
, who was himself descended from a sibling of Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
. His wife Lady Chancellor was made OBE 1976 for her philanthropic activities.
Children:
- John Paget Chancellor (b. 1927) md 1959 (div 1968) Hon (Mary) Alice Jolliffe (d. 2009), only daughter of William Jolliffe, 4th Baron HyltonWilliam Jolliffe, 4th Baron HyltonWilliam George Hervey Jolliffe, 4th Baron Hylton , was a British peer and soldier.Hylton was the son of Hylton Jolliffe, 3rd Baron Hylton, and Lady Alice Adeliza Hervey. He achieved the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the Coldstream Guards and also served as Lord Lieutenant of Somerset from 1949 to...
and his wife Lady Perdita Asquith, herself daughter of Raymond AsquithRaymond AsquithRaymond Asquith was an English barrister and eldest son and heir of British Prime Minister H. H. Asquith by his first wife Helen Kelsall Melland .- Career and honours :...
, eldest son of H.H. Asquith), British Prime Minister in the early 20th century. They had issue, one son and three daughters. (Mary Jolliffe remarried Hon. Richard Windsor-Clive, by whom she had a daughter, but they divorced after 25 years of marriage).- Isabel Rose Chancellor (b. 1959) married 1982 (John) Joseph Boothby (b. 1947), eldest and elder surviving son of (Evelyn) Basil Boothby, CMGOrder of St Michael and St GeorgeThe Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....
, sometime Ambassador to Iceland, of the Boothby baronetsBoothby BaronetsThere have been two Baronetcies created for persons with the surname Boothby, both in the Baronetage of England. One creation is extant as of 2008....
by his wife Susan Penelope Asquith, third daughter of Brigadier Arthur Melland Asquith, third son of H.H. Asquith. They have issue, two sons and a daughter. Isabel's sister-in-law Emily Boothby is wife of author Piers Paul ReadPiers Paul ReadPiers Paul Read, FRSL is a British novelist and non-fiction writer.-Background:Read was born in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire...
. - Katherine Sylvia Anthony Chancellor (b. 1961) married 1stly 1989 (div 1997) Will SelfWill SelfWilliam Woodard "Will" Self is an English novelist and short story writer. His fictional style is known for being satirical, grotesque, and fantastical. He is a prolific commentator on contemporary British life, with regular appearances on Newsnight and Question Time...
(William Woodard Self) (b. 1961) the novelist, by whom she has issue, one son and one daughter. She married 2ndly 1992 the chef Rowley Leigh.. - (John) Edward Chancellor, "Eddy" (b. 1962), formerly a banker with Lazard Brothers in London, now an investment manager. He is the author of Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation (1999) . In February 2009 he married Antonia Phillips, former wife of Martin AmisMartin AmisMartin Louis Amis is a British novelist, the author of many novels including Money and London Fields . He is currently Professor of Creative Writing at the Centre for New Writing at the University of Manchester, but will step down at the end of the 2010/11 academic year...
. - Anna ChancellorAnna Chancellor-Family:Chancellor was born in Richmond, London, England, the daughter of the Hon. Mary Alice Jolliffe and John Paget Chancellor. Through her mother's mother, Lady Perdita Rose Mary Asquith, Chancellor is the great-granddaughter of The Hon. Raymond Aquith and the great-great-granddaughter of Prime...
(born 27 April 1965), actress, best known as the SloaneySloane RangerThe term Sloane Ranger refers to a stereotype in the UK of young, upper class or upper-middle-class women, or men who share distinctive and common lifestyle traits...
"Duckface" in Four Weddings and a FuneralFour Weddings and a FuneralFour Weddings and a Funeral is a 1994 British comedy film directed by Mike Newell. It was the first of several films by screenwriter Richard Curtis to feature Hugh Grant...
. She md 1993 (div 1998). Nigel Willoughby, by whom she had no issue. Anna also has a daughter Poppy (b. 1988) by a prior relationship.
- Isabel Rose Chancellor (b. 1959) married 1982 (John) Joseph Boothby (b. 1947), eldest and elder surviving son of (Evelyn) Basil Boothby, CMG
- a daughter, died young of spinal meningitis in China.
- Teresa Chancellor (b. 1933) md 1stly 1953 (div 1977) Edward Victor Gatacre; they had issue two sons and three daughters.. She married 2ndly 1982 John Campbell Wells, artist (d. 1998), and had further issue one daughter.
- Susanna Maria Chancellor (b. 1935) md 1958 Nicholas Johnston; they had issue, one son and three daughters, of whom the eldest daughter married Percy WeatherallPercy WeatherallPercy Weatherall or Edward Percy Keswick Weatherall, is a prominent British businessman formerly active in Hong Kong. He was Managing Director of the Jardine Matheson Group from 2000 to 31 March 2006 having joined the board in 1999.Mr...
and the youngest daughter married his younger brother. - Alexander Surtees ChancellorAlexander ChancellorAlexander Chancellor is a British journalist. He was educated at Eton College and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He was the editor of the conservative Spectator magazine from 1975 to 1984, and now contributes a weekly column in The Guardian, published in the "Weekend" supplement each Saturday...
(b. 4 January 1940) md 2 June1964 Susanna Elisabeth Debenham;, only daughter of Martin Ridley Debenham (younger brother of Sir Piers Debenham, 2nd Bt.Debenham BaronetsThe Debenham Baronetcy, of Bladen in the County of Dorset, is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 28 January 1931 for Ernest Debenham, Chairman of Debenhams Ltd.-Debenham Baronets, of Bladen :...
(d.1964), who married Lady Chancellor's younger sister, and of Sir Gilbert Debenham, 3rd Bt.Debenham BaronetsThe Debenham Baronetcy, of Bladen in the County of Dorset, is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 28 January 1931 for Ernest Debenham, Chairman of Debenhams Ltd.-Debenham Baronets, of Bladen :...
). They had issue, including- Elizabeth Beatrice (Eliza) Chancellor (b. 22 December 1964); married 3 Nov 1990 Alexander WaughAlexander WaughAlexander Waugh is an English writer, critic, composer, cartoonist, record producer and television presenter. He is most known for his biography of Paul Wittgenstein published in 2009....
, elder son of Auberon WaughAuberon WaughAuberon Alexander Waugh was a British author and journalist, son of the novelist Evelyn Waugh. He was known to his family and friends as Bron Waugh.-Life and career:...
(himself eldest son of the novelist Evelyn WaughEvelyn WaughArthur Evelyn St. John Waugh , known as Evelyn Waugh, was an English writer of novels, travel books and biographies. He was also a prolific journalist and reviewer...
and his wife Lady Teresa Onslow, eldest daughter of Earl Onslow. They have issue. - Cecilia Mary Chancellor (b. 1 September 1966), model; she has issue.. In late 2005, she was reported to be engaged to John Powlett "Jo" Colman (b 1962), publisher and CEO of Psychology TodayPsychology TodayPsychology Today is a bi-monthly magazine published in the United States. It is a psychology-based magazine about relationships, health, and related topics written for a mass audience of non-psychologists. Psychology Today was founded in 1967 and features articles on such topics as love,...
and other formerly defunct magazines. Colman is the younger son of Sir Michael Colman, 3rd Bt.
- Elizabeth Beatrice (Eliza) Chancellor (b. 22 December 1964); married 3 Nov 1990 Alexander Waugh
Chancellor's sister Rosemary married Air Chief Marshal
Air Chief Marshal
Air chief marshal is a senior 4-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force...
Sir William Elliott
William Elliott (RAF officer)
Air Chief Marshal Sir William Elliott GCVO, KCB, KBE, DFC & Bar, ADC, RAF, was a senior Royal Air Force commander.-RAF career:...
, and was the mother of Simon John Elliot who is married to (Sonia) Annabel Shand, sister of HRH The Duchess of Cornwall.
Sources
- Sir Christopher John Robert Chancellor (1904-1989) Oxford DNB entry
- New York Times obituary, 1989
- Christopher Chancellor's work at Reuters as viewed by TimeTime (magazine)Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine, "100 for Reuters", 23 July 1951.