Background
Simon Marks was born in Manchester, son of Michael Marks, whose market stall in Leeds developed into a scries of penny bazaars and then into the multiple-store chain of M & S
Simon Marks was born in Manchester, son of Michael Marks, whose market stall in Leeds developed into a scries of penny bazaars and then into the multiple-store chain of M & S
He was educated at Manchester Grammar School, where he was in the same class as his lifelong friend and business partner, Israel Sieff.
In 1911 he was appointed to the board of directors of M & S and made responsible for buying. After his father’s death he was given increased responsibilities and in 1916 became chairman of the company, a position he held for forty-eight years. In May 1917 he was called up for military service and was posted as a gunner to the Lancashire city of Preston. After being posted back to London he was able to resume his duties as chairman. From then on he directed the company, which succeeded in combining high quality with mass-market sales in its 250 stores throughout Britain and a number of other countries.
In 1924 Marks visited America, where he studied modern methods of administration and sales. He realized the need to reeducate and retrain his staff and returned to England determined to transform M & S into a chain of “superstores" on the American model. He introduced the five-shilling price limit and set out to find new sources of supply to enable him to create a range of merchandise that could be sold within this limit. He also overcame opposition to developing contact with the manufacturers so that they would supply his stores directly.
Chaim Weizmann introduced Marks and Sieff to the revolutionary opportunities made possible for industry by scientific discoveries being made at the time, for example, the ability to create synthetic fibers. The directors of M & S began to exploit this field, and employed scientists and technologists who became fully integrated into the commercial organization of the business.
In 1919 Marks went to the Versailles peace conference as secretary of the Zionist delegation and held many Zionist leadership positions in Britain.
In 1938 he helped found the Air Defense Cadet Corps, which became an important source of recruits for the Royal Air Force. During World War II lie served as deputy chairman of the London and South East Regional Board. He was responsible for coordinating production in the area, and was adviser to the Ministry of Petroleum Warfare.
An extremely patriotic Briton, Marks was proud of the fact that 99 percent of his company’s merchandise was made in Britain.
Rebecca Sieff (1890-1966), eldest daughter of Michael Marks, was born in Leeds and educated in Manchester.
She married Israel Sieff and worked closely with her husband and brother in Zionist activities. In 1918 she was a founding member of the Federation of Women Zionists of Great Britain and Ireland, and in 1924 was elected the first president of the Women’s International Zionist Organization (WIZO), a position she held-until her death.
She spent the latter part of her life in the family home in Tel Mond, Israel, where she was buried.
From 1926 M & S was a public company, and Israel Sieff joined on a full-time basis, becoming vice-chairman and joint managing director. He brought a wide knowledge of the textile industry gained in his family’s business. He was deeply interested in the social and economic implications of commerce, and introduced many innovations in the firm’s relations with its employees, customers, and suppliers, believing that tile relationship between the manufacturer and the large-scale retailer was a partnership in the common task of satisfying the needs and tastes of the customer.
He supported Political and Economic Planning (PEP), an independent political and economic planning research body, and under his leadership the PEP industry group produced reports on cotton, iron and steel, coal mining, and other industries that led toward industrial reconstruction and reform of the structure of the British economic system.
