. > ...
the history of Leyton and Leytonstone
from . dot to … dots – with plenty of spaces
the later Victorian and Edwardian times 1890 to 1919
Famous people who came from our area
George Lewis French Bolton (1900–1982), born in Hackney the son of a shipping clerk, was educated at Leyton County High School before joining the London branch of the Société Générale de Paris at the age of 16, to be trained as an exchange dealer. “He can be regarded as a leading influence behind the rebirth of London as the world's leading international financial centre from the 1950s.” He joined Helbert, Wagg, the firm of Alfred Wagg who ran the Eton Manor Clubs at Hackney Wick during the First World War. Bolton joined the Bank of England in 1933 for its task of managing the sterling exchange rate after Britain had left the gold standard. He made the plans for exchange control which had to be implemented when war was declared against Nazi Germany. He was a key figure in the relationship between the pound sterling and other currencies from the eve of the Second World War to the start of the 1950s. He was tall and had a forceful personality. In the commercial sector of the 1950s Bolton helped establish the London eurodollar market, one way of compensating when sterling ceased to be a world reserve currency. He opposed British membership of the Common Market, fearing it would lead to a political union with a written constitution and a common currency and legal system. Bolton wanted instead a north Atlantic free trade association between Britain, the United States and Canada. He died in 1982. 1
1 Dictionary of National Biography http://www.oxforddnb.com/ article by G Jones
Eric Ashby, Harry Beck, Reginald Horace Blyth, George Coles, Fanny Cradock, Frank Dobson, Zoe Dyke, Charles Eade, Kenneth Farnes, Henry C Fehr, Stuart Freeborn, James Hilton, Roy Ullyett
