Raj Bagri, Baron Bagri

Raj Kumar Bagri, Baron Bagri, CBE (24 August 1930 – 26 April 2017) was an Indian-born British businessman and a Conservative member of the House of Lords from 1997 to 2010. He was made a life peer in 1997 under the title Baron Bagri, of Regent's Park in the City of Westminster.[2][3]

The Lord Bagri
Baron Bagri
Tenure	14 February 1997 – 26 April 2017
Born	24 August 1930 Kolkata, Bengal Presidency, British India[1]
Died	26 April 2017 (aged 86) London, England
Spouse(s)	Usha Maheshwary
Issue 2

Early life

Raj Kumar Bagri was born on 24 August 1930 in Calcutta (now Kolkata) into a middle-class family. His father died when he was three, and age 15, his mother sent him to work as a clerk at for a metal distributor, part of the Binani family's industrial empire.[4]

Career

Hanover Lodge, Regent's Park, London

A businessman, Bagri was chairman of the London Metal Exchange until 2002. Bagri was a member of the advisory committee of The Prince's Trust and chairman of the Bagri Foundation. He was a governor of the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).[5]

In 2012, Bagri sold Hanover Lodge, "the UK’s most expensive home", to Andrey Goncharenko a Russian billionaire, for £120 million.[6]

Personal life

He was born in a Maheshwari Banias (traders) caste in Bagri tribe of India. He married Usha Maheshwary in 1954 and they had son Apurv, who took over the running of Metdist, and daughter Amita Birla.[7]

Bagri died in London on 26 April 2017.[8][4]

Honours and arms

Honours

He was to the Order of the British Empire as a Commander (CBE) in the 1995 New Year Honours.[9] The 1997 New Year Honours list announced that Bagri was to be raised to the peerage,[10] and in February he was gazetted a life peer as Baron Bagri, of Regent's Park in the City of Westminster.[11] In 2010, following the enactment of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act, Bagri gave up his seat in the House of Lords in order to maintain his non-domiciled status for United Kingdom tax purposes.[12]

Coat of arms

Coat of arms of Raj Bagri, Baron Bagri

Coronet A Coronet of a Baron Crest Issuing from a Demi Kalasa Sable garnished Or a Lotus Flower also Or[3] Escutcheon Per pale sable and gules six swordblades six swordblades three bend sinister issuant from the dexter three bendwise issuant from the sinister their points crossing in saltire or Supporters On either side an Elephant, the dexter Gules with Housings on the back and forehead Sable garnished tasselled and fringed Or the sinister Sable with like Housings Gules garnished tasselled and fringed Or each semy of Cinquefoils tusked and unguled Argent the tusks banded Or and holding aloft with the trunk a Lotus Flower slipped also Or Motto "Truth always triumphs"

Notes

1. Kuthiala, Tushaar (28 April 2017). "UK, India mourn the death of Indian-origin businessman Lord Raj Bagri". Connected to India. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
2. "No. 54685". The London Gazette. 20 February 1997. p. 2133.
3. Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 219. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.
4. "Lord Bagri breathes his last". Asian Voice. 28 April 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2021.
5. SOAS: "2016: A Vision and Strategy for the Centennial," p. 18. Archived 4 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
6. "Revealed: Russian oligarch behind purchase of UK's most expensive home". Rt.com. 14 July 2014. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
7. "Lord Bagri, doyen of metal traders – obituary". The Telegraph. 1 May 2017. Retrieved 5 May 2017.
8. "Raj Bagri was a pillar of Indian community in UK". Hindustan Times. 27 April 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
9. "No. 53893". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1994. p. 8.
10. Willcock, John. "Peerage hailed as spur to Asian businessmen" in The Independent (London) dated 31 December 1996
11. "No. 54685". The London Gazette. 20 February 1997. p. 2133.
12. "Tory donor Lord Ashcroft gives up non-dom tax status". BBC News. 7 July 2010.