Stephen Courtauld

Sir Stephen Lewis Courtauld MC FRGS (27 February 1883 – 9 October 1967) was an English philanthropist associated with geographical exploration, the restoration of Eltham Palace in south-east London, and cultural and education causes, both in the UK and in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where he and his wife Virginia also donated to organisations promoting racial equality.

Serving in the Artists' Rifles, Worcestershire Regiment and the Machine Gun Corps during World War I, he was twice mentioned in despatches and awarded the Military Cross in 1918.

[4] In the month of their marriage artist Percy Metcalfe was commissioned to strike medals featuring busts of the couple and these are now held in the British Museum collection.

Courtauld collaborated with Basil Dean and Reginald Baker and made a substantial financial contribution to the construction and development of Ealing Studios.

At the opening of two large sound stages in December 1931, providing facilities for 12 film productions a year, the ribbon-cutting ceremony was performed jointly by Virginia Courtauld and actress Gracie Fields.

[12] Courtauld was subsequently chairman of the Ealing Studios group of companies for 20 years[13] and was instrumental in the appointment of Michael Balcon to take charge of the production programme in 1938.

He was a trustee of the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden, and provided financial support for the Courtauld Galleries in Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum.

[17] Later in the Second World War, the Courtaulds left Eltham Palace in May 1944 to live in Muckairn, Taynuilt, Scotland, as the site was on one of the Luftwaffe bombing paths towards London and was subjected to some direct hits.

An obituary noted that "liberal in thought and open minded in his relations with people, it is said that when the question arose of racial segregation in his theatre he made it clear he would pull the building down before agreeing to such a measure.