LEWIS, Sir ALFRED (EDWARD) (1868-1940), banker

Born at Birmingham 2 August 1868, son of John Lewis, Welsh Calvinistic Methodist minister there, and educated at King Edward's School. He entered the Birmingham and Midlands bank in 1884, and afterwards became assistant-manager of the New Street branch of the Midland bank there. In 1910 he became general manager of the Bradford District bank, which in 1919 was amalgamated with the National Provincial bank, of which Lewis became chief general manager in 1924 and deputy-chairman in 1934. He was knighted in 1921 (K.B.E. 1931), and was honorary LL.D. of Birmingham (1930) and of Wales (1935), and served on many public bodies, including the Council of the National Library of Wales. His wife (1897) was Mary Roberts, of Leeds. He died 21 February 1940.

His brother, HUGH (DAVIES) LEWIS (1866 - 1937), born 26 December 1866, and also educated at King Edward's School, became prominent in the world of insurance. At 23 he was manager of the Birmingham branch of the Northern Assurance Co., and when (1906) this was merged with the Liverpool and London and Globe Co., he became one of the London managers - in 1921, he was appointed general manager; he was also general manager of the Japan Assurance Co., formed to deal with the situation after the Japanese earthquake of 1923. A governor of the London School of Economics, he was sheriff of Anglesey in 1934-5. He took great interest in flying, and at 50 obtained his pilot's certificate. His wife (1891), Grace Mary Edmunds, was the daughter of William Edmunds (see Edmunds, Mary Anne), by his second marriage. He died at Birkenhead 8 March 1937.

Author

• Edward Morgan Humphreys, (1882 - 1955)

Sources

• Who was who?
• H. Withers, National Provincial Bank, 1833 to 1933 (London 1933)
• family information

Published date: 1959

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