1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144 
Obituary
Page 15
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
Sir Robert Lawrence
SIR ROBERT LAWRENCE, first chairman of the National Freight Consortium and the man who steered NFC from state-ownership into the private sector, died this week aged 68.
Sir Robert, a career railwayman, became chairman of the National Freight Corporation in 1979, and remained in corn mand when it became the National Freight Company as a first stage in the Conservative Government's privatisation plan for NFC. He remained in the chair in 1982 when the employee/bank consortium bought NEC,
Sit. Robert, who was knighted in 1980, retired in October 1980 when Sir Peter Thompson's streamlined management structiure was established, and became a non-executive director.
He :served as a British Rail vice-chairman from 1975 to 1981, and from 1972 was chairman oi the BR Property Board He held a similar post at the National Bus Company from 1982.
He joined the London and North Eastern Railway in 1934 as a traffic apprentice, and from 1968 to 1 971 was chairman and general manager of BR's London Midland Region.