Mark Norman (banker)

Mark Richard Norman CBE (3 April 1910 – 1994) was an English banker from the Norman family.

He was a former managing director of Lazard Brothers, the merchant bankers and chairman of Gallaher, the cigarette manufacturers.

Norman combined his respective careers in the City and industry with a prominent role in the affairs of the National Trust — an interest he inherited from his father, Ronald Collet Norman. Mark Norman took over as deputy chairman of the Trust in 1977. Faced with rising maintenance costs and a rapid expansion of the property portfolio, he guarded short-term solvency while keeping a clear eye on long-term liabilities.

When he retired in 1980 the Trust's annual report noted that he had guided its financial affairs "with a flair which approaches genius".

His perspective on the Trust was much broader than its financial aspect. Contrary to the recommendations of the 1968 Benson Committee, he argued successfully for the devolution of power to the Trust's regional chairmen — "a splendid lot", he called them, though some were reputedly "embryo brigands". Shown plans to rebuild derelict outbuildings at Erddig in Clwyd, his first response to the local agent was one of disbelief. But he helped to steer through the proposal, and in due course the outbuildings became a celebrated feature of the Erddig restoration, which was opened in 1977.

Mark Richard Norman was born in London on 5 April 1910, into a City family connected with the banking house of Brown, Shipley & Co. His uncle Montagu Norman, was a long-serving governor of the Bank of England, and both his paternal great-grandfathers were directors. His mother Lady Florence Bridgeman, was a daughter of the 4th Earl of Bradford. His father was chairman of the Board of Governors of the BBC (1935-1940) and of the London County Council (1915-1917). He also served as vice-chairman of the National Trust during the 1930s, but declined the chairmanship, because he was not himself a great landowner. Ronald Collet Norman also placed the Trust's finance committee on a more professional footing; it subsequently fell to his son to chair that committee through the difficult economic circumstances of the 1970s.

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