A knight at the club
FOR the man who has everything: a knighthood for Evelyn de Rothschild. It is the last in a tradition that honours the retiring chairman of the City's most exclu- sive club, the Accepting Houses Commit- tee. This with its 16 members was the inner circle of the traditional merchant bankers. To the previous chairman, Sir Ian Fraser of Lazards, fell the task of bringing the club into line in support of Johnson Matthey Bankers (non-member, naturally). Sir Evelyn's task was to persuade the club to agree to its demise — a fate particularly resented by the smaller merchant banks, whose AHC membership was their best, if not their only, asset. It has disappeared into a new organisation, known from its acronym as Bimbo — larger (inevitably), more representative (whatever next?) and open to foreigners (this must be the end, Carruthers). The first chairman of the AHC was the Lord Rothschild of his day, and now Sir Evelyn has bowed out as the last. He reappears as chairman of Bimbo.
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