Richard Dobson (businessman)

Dobson was born in Bristol, the son of John Frederic Dobson (1875-1947), a professor of Greek at the University of Bristol, and Dr Dina (Portway) Dobson (1885-1968), an archaeologist.^[1] He was educated at Clifton College.^[2]

Dobson graduated from King's College, Cambridge with an honours degree in Classics.^[3] Dobson was persuaded by his father that academic life was financially unrewarding, and as he was keen to see the world, he joined British American Tobacco (BAT), with a reference from his college bursar, John Maynard Keynes.^[1][4] Keynes advised the young Dobson not to take the job unless his ambition was to become company chairman.^[5] Dobson worked for BAT in China as a marketer from 1936 to 1940.^[1] His time in China was characterised by the destruction of the Second Sino-Japanese War.^[5]

During the Second World War Dobson served as a Spitfire pilot in the Middle East, Italy and Burma, rising to the rank of flight lieutenant.^[5][1] Dobson wrote a recollection of his time in China, which was published by Macmillan as China Cycle in 1946.^[6]

Dobson returned to BAT after the war, resuming work in China until 1950.^[5] He was assigned to manage the Rhodesian subsidiary from 1953 to 1955.^[5] He returned to London and was appointed to the board of directors in 1955.^[1]

Dobson became deputy chairman from 1962, during which time he became primarily involved with Brown & Williamson, BAT's American tobacco subsidiary.^[4] Brown & Williamson held around 20 percent of the United States tobacco market and was regarded as the "jewel in the crown" of the company.^[7]

Dobson was appointed as the sole vice-chairman from 1968, during which time he was principally responsible for reorganising BAT's cosmetics businesses, including Yardley, Lenthéric and Germaine Monteil, and helping restore them to profitability.^[4]

Dobson was appointed chairman and de facto chief executive of British American Tobacco from 1970.^[1][8] BAT was the largest producer of tobacco products in the world, and the third largest company in Britain as measured by sales.^[4][9]

Dobson was considered one of Britain's ablest company executives.^[5] He was profiled in The Times as a modest but intelligent man, described by an acquaintance as able to, "write a thesis with one hand, and wield a sword in the other".^[4] Physically he was "a burly pipe smoker with the build of a front-row [rugby] forward".^[10]

The historic exclusive trading area agreement with Imperial Tobacco was ended in 1973, which allowed BAT to market its tobacco products in Britain for the first time.^[9] BAT aggressively targeted the British cigarette market, initially with its State Express 555 brand.^[11]

Growth prospects in tobacco were limited by growing public health concerns, so Dobson continued a BAT policy of diversification that had begun in the early 1960s.^[9] He steered BAT into the retail market, acquiring a stake in Horten AG, control of Kohl's, International Stores and Gimbels.^[9]

Dobson served as a non-executive director of Exxon Corporation from 1975 until 1984.^[12]

Dobson received a knighthood in January 1976.^[1]

Dobson retired as chairman of BAT to become chairman of British Leyland from February 1976.^[1] He remained involved with BAT, where he held the position of non-executive president.^[13] According to Dobson he took on the job as head of one of Britain's most important yet troubled industrial companies out of "a sense of public duty".^[14]

Dobson resigned as chairman of British Leyland in 1977 (18 months in office) after a socialist activist recorded him using the term "wog" as a racial epithet at a private dinner.^[15] Dobson argued that the comment was taken out of context and conveyed a "totally false impression of his personal and social attitudes and business ethics".^[14]

In his later years, Dobson would describe himself, self-effacingly, as a "retired tobacconist and a failed motor manufacturer".^[1] He died in 1993.^[12]