Lord Stokes

Jul 23 2008 by David Charters, Liverpool Daily Post

IT WAS said that the man, with glinting spectacles and an enthusiasm for double-decker buses, could have sold Morris Marinas to Marsh Arabs.

In the end, perhaps, there were too many Morris Marinas and not enough Marsh Arabs.

It was, of course, a figure of speech, but it neatly told the story of how a brilliantly innovative salesman failed in the near-impossible task of turning an unwieldy conglomeration of motor companies into a competitive organisation, when the British economy was stuck in reverse gear and the grievances of workers were settled by costly strikes.

Even so, Donald Gresham Stokes was one of Britain’s leading industrialists, for which he was knighted in 1965 and given a life peerage four years later.

Stokes was born in Plymouth, where his father, Harry, was the transport manager, introducing him to Leyland buses, which were, of course, made in Lancashire.

He attended Blundell’s School, Tiverton, Devon, not fully entering the spirit of games and classics, before studying at the Harris Institute of Technology, which suited his needs more, guiding him to an apprenticeship at Leyland Motors in 1930.

Eight years later, he joined the Territorial Army and served with REME during the war, becoming a lieutenant-colonel and assistant director of mechanical engineering with the Central Mediterranean Forces.

He then rejoined Leyland, bringing flair and a sense of adventure to an otherwise rather staid company, as he forged new markets for buses in the Middle East and South America. By 1954, he was on the company’s board.

He was something of a buccaneering figure in British industry, selling 650 buses to Communist Cuba on the basis that they should be paid for from fares.

Leyland acquired 40 smaller companies, becoming the Leyland Motor Corporation, of which Stokes became chairman in 1969.

In a bid to save the troubled British Motor Corporation (Austin and Morris), Harold Wilson’s Labour government merged it with Leyland, making British Leyland in 1973 with Stokes as managing director.

Although it started well, the colossal enterprise was soon wobbling. Don Ryder was brought in to replace Stokes.

Stokes had a son with his first wife, who died in 1995. He married again in 2000.

Lord Stokes, industrialist; born March 22, 1914, died July 21, 2008.