Dallas Gerald Mercer Bernard

Sir Dallas Gerald Mercer Bernard, 1st Baronet (22 March 188826 November 1975) was a British banker who served as Chairman of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation from 1926 to 1928.

Early life Bernard was born on 22 March 1888. Bernards's parents were Edmund Bowen Bernard and Arabella Margaret Piercy. Bernard studied at Stubbington House School in Fareham, Hampshire, England.

After Bernard held the rank of midshipman in the Royal Navy, he attended Thames Nautical Training College in Foots Cray Place, Kent.

Career Bernard arrived in the Far East and joined Jardine, Matheson & Co. by at least 1912, at which point he was working there as an assistant. He was chairman of the trustees of the Sailors' Home and on the Local General Committee of the Missions to Seamen in Hong Kong in the 1920s. He was the managing director of Jardine Matheson from 1928 to 1942. Bernard was also director of other companies such as the Chinese Central Railways between 1928 and 1942 and the Alliance Assurance Company between 1931 and 1942. During his time in Hong Kong he was appointed Unofficial Member of the Executive Council in 1926 and 1927 and Legislative Council in 1926. He was on the Legislative Council's Standing Law Committee.

Bernard became the director of the Bank of England from 1936 to 1949 and the High Sheriff of the County of London from 1942 to 1943 and later on the Lieutenant of the City of London. After the war, he continued to serve the bank and rose to the deputy governor of the Bank of England in 1949 until 1954 when he left the bank.

Personal life Bernard married Elizabeth "Betty" Addis, daughter of Sir Charles Stewart Addis and Elizabeth Jane McIsaac on 16 November 1922. Bernard died on 26 November 1975 at age 87. Bernard and his wife have three children: Elizabeth Piercy Bernard (10 April 192429 November 1981), Sir Dallas Bernard, 2nd Bt. (born 14 December 1926), and Margaret Anne Bernard (6 June 19297 October 2010).