Archives
1962.02.01.Du Times.Article
Le PDF est disponible à la fin du texte.
Obituary
Mr. Hypolite Worms, a leading French ship-owner
A correspondent writes: — Mr. Hypolite Worms, head of the House of Worms in Paris, died at his home on Sunday. He was the grandson of the founder of the firm which was established in Paris in 1848. He himself entered the company in 1909 and became its head in 1914. Under his impetus the firm's operations were greatly extended. Having much increased the import of English coal into France he added many activities to those traditionally associated with the house. The development of shipping lines in the Indian Ocean, the creation of one of the largest of the French tanker fleets and the formation of a naval shipyard were only some of the new projects of the firm.
Finally, he crowned his work by founding, in 1929, on the model of the English merchant bankers, the bank which bears his name. It is today one of the largest of the French commercial banking houses.
Decorated with the Legion of Honour during the First World War for the role that he played in the revictualling of France with English coal, for a long period treasurer of the Comite Central des Armateurs de France, president of the Franco-British Sea Transport Executive Committee during the War of 1939-45. Commander of the Legion of Honour in 1956, Mr. Worms was one of the most conspicuous of French ship-owners and one of the principal personalities in business affairs - both French and international.
He married Gladys Lewis-Morgan, of Cardiff, and for the whole of his life endeavoured unceasingly to create better relations between France and Great Britain. He understood and loved England and believed that her destiny could never be separated from that of France.