>Chris the speller at 20:41, 9 April 2021

2021-04-09T20:41:10Z

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'''Sir John Valentine Jardine Paterson''' (14 February 1920 – 12 March 2000) was a Scottish businessman whose career was mostly in [[India]].

He was Chairman of the family firm, Jardine Henderson of [[Calcutta]] (closely related to [[Jardine Matheson Holdings|Jardines]] of Hong Kong), from 1963 to 1967, Chairman of the Indian Jute Mills Association in 1963 and President of the [[Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry]] in 1966. He joined [[McLeod Russel]] PLC in 1967 and was company chairman from 1979 to 1983.

==Life==
Born at [[Lockerbie]], Dumfriesshire, in 1920, Jardine Paterson was one of the four sons of Robert Jardine Paterson [[Justice of the Peace|JP]] (1878–1942) of Balgray, near Lockerbie, a former [[Coldstream Guards]] officer, by his marriage to Constance Margaret Steel. The other sons were David (born 1914), Robert Noël (1916–1995), and Arthur James (born 1918).<ref name=peerage>''[http://www.thepeerage.com/p23038.htm#i230378 Robert Jardine Paterson]'' at thepeerage.com</ref> He was educated at [[Eton College|Eton]] and [[Jesus College, Cambridge]].<ref name=who>'Jardine Paterson, Sir John (Valentine)', in ''[[Who's Who (UK)|Who Was Who]]'' (A. & C. Black, 1920–2008), [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U179513, online edition] (subscription required) by [[Oxford University Press]], December 2007, accessed 5 January 2011</ref>

Jardine Paterson was born into the family which had founded the [[Jardine Matheson]] company, although his branch of the family controlled [[Jardine, Skinner and Company]] of [[Calcutta]], the Indian division of Jardines, rather than its main business based in Hong Kong. Jardine Skinner & Co. had been established in 1844 by David Jardine of Balgray and had become a major force in the tea, jute and rubber trades.<ref>Maggie Keswick, Clara Weatherall, ''The thistle and the jade: a celebration of 175 years of Jardine Matheson & Co'' (2008), p. 40</ref><ref name=scotsman/> His grandfather, James Jardine Paterson, was the son of Robert Paterson by his marriage to Nancy Jardine, daughter and heiress of David Jardine.<ref name=peerage/>

On 1 October 1939, shortly after the outbreak of the [[Second World War]], when he was nineteen, Jardine Paterson received an emergency commission into the [[Black Watch]]<ref>''[[London Gazette]]'', Issue 34710 (Supplement), 13 October 1939, [http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/34710/supplements/6944 p. 6944]</ref> and served with distinction.<ref name=who/><ref name=scotsman>Alasdair Steven, 'Sir John Jardine Paterson' ([[obituary]]), in ''[[The Scotsman]]'' dated 5 April 2000</ref> On 23 April 1942, during the war, his father died at the age of 64.<ref name=peerage/> He resigned his commission on 17 July 1946 and was granted the honorary rank of captain.<ref>''London Gazette'', Issue 37725 (Supplement), 13 September 1946, [http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/37725/supplements/4626 p. 4626]</ref>

After leaving the Army, he joined the family firm, by now renamed Jardine Henderson Ltd, of Calcutta, and was a director of the company from 1952 to 1967, chairman from 1963 to 1967. He was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in 1967.<ref name=who/> A shrewd business man, he had to deal with the tremendous disruptions to trade caused by the [[partition of India]] in 1947, and during the years which followed he worked to rebuild the flagging jute industry.<ref name=scotsman/> He was elected chairman of the Indian Jute Mills Association in 1963 and president of the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry in 1966.<ref name=who/> He then joined McLeod Russel PLC as a director from 1967 to 1984 and served as company chairman from 1979 to 1983,<ref name=who/> diversifying the firm's business into property and [[North Sea oil]].<ref name=scotsman/>

In 1953, Jardine Paterson married Priscilla Mignon Nicolson (1924-2018), the daughter of Sir Kenneth Nicolson [[Military Cross|MC]] (1891–1964), another Scottish East India Merchant, and they had one son and three daughters.<ref name=who/><ref>'NICOLSON, Sir Kenneth', in ''Who Was Who'', [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U51916/ online edition] (subscription required), December 2007, accessed 6 January 2011</ref>

He was a member of the [[Oriental Club]] and at the time of his death was living in retirement at [[Norton Bavant]] [[Manor house|Manor]] in Wiltshire, which had been bought in 1947 by his father-in-law. He died on 12 March 2000.<ref name=who/><ref>''[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=16076 Norton Bavant]'', in [[Wiltshire Victoria County History|A History of the County of Wiltshire]], vol. 8: Warminster, Westbury and Whorwellsdown Hundreds (1965), pp. 47-58, accessed 6 January 2011</ref>

==External links==
*[http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/deptserv/manuscripts/jarskin.html Jardine Skinner Archives] at lib.cam.ac.uk ([[Cambridge University Library]])

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paterson, John Jardine}}
[[Category:1920 births]]
[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Black Watch officers]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War II]]
[[Category:People from Lockerbie]]

John Jardine Paterson - Revision history

>Chris the speller at 20:41, 9 April 2021