Archive relating to A B Marshall's time as Chief Executive of P&O.

Administrative / biographical background
Alexander Badenoch Marshall was born on 1 January 1924. He went up to Worcester College, Oxford, in Trinity Term 1942 after which he joined the Navy. His naval service - as midshipman and sub-lieutenant - was almost entirely in the destroyer ORIBI, supporting the Normandy landings and escorting troopships in the Atlantic and merchant ships on the Russian convoys to Murmansk. After the Second World War he joined the firm of MacKinnon MacKenzie, managing agents of the British India Steam Navigation Company and agents for P&O, in Calcutta in 1947. After 13 years in India he began in a new tanker company within P&O called Trident Tankers. Its success led to his joining the P&O board in 1968. In 1972 there was an attempt of a reverse hostile takeover on P&O by the Bovis Construction Company. Ford Geddes, P&O's chairman, had proposed that the company should take over Bovis Construction. With Frank Sanderson, Bovis's chairman and chief executive, set to become co- chairman of P&O, the proposal was in effect a reverse takeover. The board was split and much of the conflict between the two sides was conducted through the media. The takeover was challenged by both Marshall and Kenneth Mackay, the third Earl of Inchcape, himself a non-executive of P&O and chairman of the family firm, Inchcape plc. An eventful City saga ensued, with Marshall writing to every shareholder in an attempt to galvanise support. The affair reached a climax at an extraordinary general meeting at the Chartered Insurance Institute Hall. Geddes's proposal was substantially voted down and he was forced to resign. Inchcape then became chairman of P&O with Marshall his chief executive. The partnership lasted seven years, during which time Marshall was instrumental in the successful acquisition of Bovis, in 1974. But the partnership ended in tears. Marshall lost the confidence of his board and in 1979 he returned from a ship launch in Bergen to find no job. He moved on to Maersk UK board, where Marshall served for 15 years, from 1987 to 1993 as chairman.