News & Resources

Rector's Message Request a Prospectus E-newsletter Bus routes and directions

Posted: Sunday 6 February 2011

Sir Alexander Stone Memorial Lecture delivered by former Crown Jeweller

Edward Green, former Crown Jeweller, delivered this year's Sir Alexander Stone Memorial Lecture. Peter Aitken [S6] reports.

Sir Alexander Stone Memorial Lecture 2011Edward Green gave S6 an interesting an engaging talk on his career, the path he found himself on when leaving school and the twists and turns he has followed in his life. He began his story by telling the audience that he attended The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School in Elstree, a school "much like Hutchesons' and then went on to read Hotel and Catering at Strathclyde University.

Every year, one person from Strathclyde was sent to work as a cook in the royal household and Mr Green was lucky enough to be chosen for this prestigious role. "It was hard work," said Green, "and ironically, I wasn't cooking for the royals themselves. but for their dogs!"

He worked part-time in the hotel trade, working from seven in the morning until the hotel closed at two the next morning. "They were long hours and I didn't really enjoy it," he said. After a few months at the hotel, he decided to leave and took two months to find his way. Unfortunately, two months turned into three months and three months turned into four months. Green: "My father said ‘You must find a job!' "

Eventually, Green entered the jewellery trade, having succeeded in an interview at a jewellery shop in the West End of Glasgow. Within a day of starting, he "loved it" and went to night school to gain a jeweller's certificate. Going to night school, he said, was one of the hardest things he has ever had to do. He rose through the ranks of the company and ended up becoming a Director and was allowed to start buying in pieces. He subsequently moved on to the Queen's Jewellers, Garrard and Company, where he helped the royals purchase new pieces and look after the already large royal jewellery collection.

He closed by saying that the three most important attributes which helped him through his life were confidence, honesty and integrity.

His talk was a great way to start back the Talking Points series!

 

 

Sir Alexander Stone

Sir Alexander Stone, OBE, LLD, DLitt, BL, 1907-1998

Alexander Stone was born in 1907.  His Russian-born parents were driven out of their native land by a Cossack pogrom and arrived in Glasgow in 1903 with few possessions and little money.  They settled in the Gorbals area of Glasgow with other Jewish immigrant families.

After attending Hutchesons' Boys' Grammar School in Crown Street, Alexander Stone went into his family's furniture business as a salesman and auctioneer.  Aged 25, he decided to study law at the University of Glasgow and in 1935 he founded his own law firm, Alexander Stone and Co.  He quickly established himself as a brilliant and highly successful lawyer and developed a particular interest in corporate law.  In 1956 he embarked on a career in banking, having acquired the British Bank of Commerce, a small London merchant bank with four employees and capital of £10,000.  So successful was this enterprise that, when it went public in 1967, the bank had 125 employees and capital assets totalling £40m. 

During 1973 the public lost confidence in subsidiary banks and this resulted in the sale of the British Bank of Commerce and the loss of a personal fortune.  However, quite remarkably, in 1980, at the age of 73, Alexander Stone set up a second merchant bank, Combined Capital Ltd., in Glasgow's Renfield Street.  This was wholly owned by the Alexander Stone Foundation and most of the profits were donated to West of Scotland charities concerned with education, the arts, and relief of poverty and distress.  Among many gifts and endowments, he funded a new building for the microbiology department at Glasgow University; he endowed various scholarships to encourage people seeking careers in law; he established chairs in commercial law and in business law and practice at the universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde respectively.  His belief in the skill of oratory led to his sponsoring a lectureship in rhetoric.

Alexander Stone always valued his days at Hutchesons' Grammar School.  As a former pupil he took a continued interest in the life of the School and for many years this interest was made tangible by his donations to the School prize funds which benefited many generations of Hutchesons' pupils.

Since his death in 1998, Lady Stone has generously continued this support by giving in Sir Alexander's memory.  Two examples are the stunningly unique John K Clark windows in the Library, the Music Practice Suite in the Fotheringay Centre and the bronze memorial to Sir Alexander in the Secret Garden.

 

 

Tags: S6, Talking Points

<  Return to news