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Sir Arthur Philip Du Cros, 1st Baronet〔Different members of the family spelled their surname as "Du Cros" or "du Cros", but the sources indicate that Sir Arthur spelled his name in the former manner.〕 (26 January 1871 – 28 October 1955) was a British industrialist and politician. ==Early life and business career== Du Cros was born in Dublin on 26 January 1871, the third of seven sons of Harvey du Cros and his wife Annie Jane Roy. In his childhood, his father was only a bookkeeper with an income of £170 a year and Arthur grew up in modest circumstances. He attended a national school in Dublin and entered the civil service at the lowest-paid grade. In 1892 he joined his father and brothers in Dublin's Pneumatic Tyre and Booth's Cycle Agency. This business had been set up in 1889 by Harvey du Cros and J B Dunlop to exploit Dunlop's pneumatic tyre. Arthur was made general manager. His brothers had been or were later sent to Europe and America to develop their family's pneumatic tyre interests there. Arthur married Maude Gooding, the daughter of a Coventry watch manufacturer in 1895. They had two sons and two daughters before a divorce in 1923. After J B Dunlop retired in 1895. Terah Hooley bought the business, now named Pneumatic Tyre Co, in 1896 for £3 million and for a return of £5 million floated a new listed company on the stock market to own it. Hooley called the new company The Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company though J B Dunlop had no financial link to it. Arthur was made a joint managing director alongside his father but Harvey du Cros was also chairman. From 1890 Pneumatic Tyre and Booth's Cycle Agency (later Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company) made its (cycle) tyres in Coventry by assembling bought-in components on its own machines and through its 1894 investment in Byrne Brothers also made cycle tyres in Birmingham. Byrne Brothers was renamed Rubber Manufacturing Company in 1896 and again, in 1900, renamed Dunlop Rubber Company. By 1914, 4,000 were employed at Castle Bromwich and 12,000 in 1927 when Dunlop controlled 90 percent of national tyre production though imports limited their share of tyre sales to 60 percent.〔Victoria County History, ''A History of the County of Warwick volume 7, the City of Birmingham. London 1964〕 In August 1912 the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company went out of business though retaining certain financial commitments. It passed its activities to Dunlop Rubber in exchange for shares. Then it changed its name to The Parent Tyre Company Limited. Dunlop Rubber purchased certain of its assets including goodwill and trading rights and in exchange the tyre company shareholders now owned three-quarters of Dunlop Rubber. The amalgamation was intended to bring about a substantial reduction in overhead and clarify what had been seen as a confusing relationship between the two enterprises when they shared most shareholders.〔Amalgamation approved. Dunlop Rubber Company (Limited). ''The Times'', Saturday, Aug 31, 1912; pg. 13; Issue 39992〕 Arthur du Cros was made managing director and deputy chairman in 1912 and retained that position after his father's death in 1918 when A L Ormrod became chairman until 1921. During the period when he was chief executive, his family interests dominated the board and this period featured much financial impropriety. He found it difficult to distinguish between personal and company assets, using company funds to sponsor family investments and appointing family members to senior positions without regard for merit. He also participated in financial manipulation as a close associate of James White, a financier who specialised in share rigging and whose actions left Dunlop close to bankruptcy in 1921. Du Cros had already lost influence within the company and was dismissed after the 1921 depression.〔 In 1928 Sir Arthur and his brothers Alfred and George finally resigned as president, vice-president and director of Dunlop though they had been on leave of absence from the board since March 1924.〔Keith Grieves, ''Sir Eric Geddes: Business and Government in War and Peace'' Manchester NY 1989 ISBN 9780719023453〕 He had made personal investments with Clarence Hatry. The collapse of Hatry's group in 1929 and subsequent criminal fraud proceedings cost du Cros's personal company £3 million. Du Cros's personal fortunes never recovered.〔 He died at home near Watford, Hertfordshire on 28 October 1955 aged 84 and was interred in Finstock, Oxfordshire.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Arthur Du Cros」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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