Hugh Wontner

Sir Hugh Walter Kingwell Wontner (22 October 1908 – 25 November 1992) was an English hotelier and politician. He was managing director of the Savoy hotel group from 1941 to 1979 and its chairman from 1948 to 1984, continuing as president until his death. He was also chairman of the Savoy Theatre from 1948 until his death. In 1973–74, he was Lord Mayor of London.

Wontner was appointed general secretary of the Hotels and Restaurants Association of Great Britain in 1933 at the age of 25. He shepherded the Savoy hotel group properties through the difficult World War II years, restoring their lustre after the war, and successfully preserved the group's independence against take-over bids in the 1950s, 1970s and 1980s. As chairman of the Savoy Theatre, he personally supervised its rebuilding after it was destroyed by fire in 1990.

Wontner was closely involved in the City of London as a leading member of two of its ancient guilds and as alderman, chief magistrate and Lord Mayor. He was knighted in 1972.

Biography

Early years Wontner was the elder son of the actor-manager Arthur Wontner and his first wife, the actress Rose Pendennis, whose real name was Rosecleer Alice Amelia Blanche, née Kingwell. He was born Hugh Walter Kingwell Wontner Smith, but his father changed the family name in 1909, dropping the "Smith". Wontner was educated at Oundle School and in France, but was not, he said later, an academic pupil. His younger brother was the actor Hilary Wontner.

After working in the Hôtel Meurice in Paris, Wontner joined the secretariat of the London Chamber of Commerce from 1927 to 1933. In 1933, at the age of 25, he was appointed general secretary of the Hotels and Restaurants Association of Great Britain. In 1936 Wontner married Catherine Irvin. the Savoy board elected Wontner, the first person to combine the roles of chairman and managing director since the Savoy's founder, Richard D'Oyly Carte. and advising the government on managing the change from wartime rationing to peacetime conditions. In 1953 the entrepreneur Charles Clore attempted to buy the Savoy group, and when his bid was rejected he sold his shares to the property developer Harold Samuel, who planned to redevelop the Piccadilly site of the Berkeley Hotel. Wontner temporarily transferred possession of the freehold of the Berkeley from the Savoy group to its staff pension fund until the bid was withdrawn. He was proud of being a member of the Old Stagers, England's oldest amateur dramatic society, and of his association with the Savoy Theatre, of which he was chairman and managing director from 1948 until his death. When the theatre was destroyed by fire in 1990 Wontner personally supervised the reconstruction. The topping-out ceremony gave him great pleasure, and only a few days before his death he was looking forward to presiding over the re-opening in 1993.

He was the recipient of many international honours, including Honorary Citizen of St Emilion, 1974; Freeman of the Seychelles, 1974; Order of Cisneros (Spain), 1964; Officer, L'Étoile Equatoriale (Gabon), 1970; Médaille de Vermeil, City of Paris, 1972; Ordre de l'Étoile Civique (France), 1972; Officier du Mérite Agricole (France), 1973; Commander, National Order of the Leopard (Zaire), 1974; Knight Commander, Order of the Dannebrog (Denmark), 1974; Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia, 1974; Knight Commander, Royal Swedish Order of the Polar Star, 1980; and a Knight of the Venerable Order of Saint John, 1973. His British honours were MVO 1950, CVO 1969, Knight Bachelor 1972, and GBE 1974.

Wontner died of a heart attack in London, aged 84.