Marble Hill to publish ‘lost’ memoir of lawyer and former Natwest chairman Alexander

Marble Hill Publishers has signed “a candid self-portrait of a lawyer and banker” by the late Bob Alexander QC, entitled Crossing the Bar: The memoir of Bob Alexander QC.

Publisher Francis Bennett acquired world rights directly from Lord Alexander’s family. It will be published on 12th January 2023 in hardback and include a forward by Jonathan Sumption.

According to Bennett: “The manuscript had been lost for years. It was found and the family approached me because I had published two volumes of memoirs by Lord Brown, a former Supreme Court judge.”

The synopsis reads: “To rise from humble beginnings in the Potteries to become a hugely successful barrister involved in many high-profile cases would be enough to satisfy the ambitions of many. But Bob Alexander’s life took him from the law to be chairman of the Takeover Panel and the NatWest Bank at a critical time when the impact of ‘Big Bang’ demanded huge changes from many staid financial institutions.

“Add to that his passion for cricket, his appointment as chairman and then president of the MCC, his chairmanship of the Royal Shakespeare Company, together with his elevation to the peerage, and you have the extraordinarily full life of a man who rose to the very top of the British establishment.”

Bennett said of the acquisition: “One of the great pleasures of being a publisher is that you never know what you will be offered next. If you had asked me before the email arrived in my inbox, with a lengthy manuscript attached, who Bob Alexander was, I might have been able to mutter, ‘Wasn’t he a lawyer? Oh, and chairman of NatWest (my bank!).’ 

“But that was all. The email was from Bob Alexander’s daughter, Mary. Would I consider her father’s memoir? I enjoyed the manuscript enormously – this was a very distinguished and interesting life. But memoirs are usually published during the subject’s lifetime. Bob Alexander died in 2005. Why had the manuscript not been published already? But would it sell? Would the public remember him? I mentioned to a few lawyer friends that I was reading Bob Alexander’s memoir – and immediately there was a response. A brilliant barrister. Involved in a series of landmark cases. Left the bar to run a bank. Stories abounded. And every anecdote was told with great affection and respect, ending always with the sad statement, ‘he died far too young’.

“Bob Alexander was a man who was genuinely loved by those with whom he came into contact. Reading the manuscript, I understood that he was that rare character, a man of huge ability who was genuinely modest. I met Mary Alexander. Why publish the memoir now, nearly 20 years since her father’s death? The family had been so devastated by his sudden death that the manuscript’s existence had been forgotten. It had come to light only recently. Mary and Marie, Bob Alexander’s widow, had both read it and wanted it published. I agreed. This is an extraordinary story of a man who took a central role in many important legal cases in the 70s, 80s and 90s and was involved in remaking a major bank. His influence on our lives remains to this day.”

Crossing the Bar is available from Gardners or can be ordered directly from the Marble Hill website at a 50% discount.