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Julian Radcliffe
Julian Guy Yonge Radcliffe OBE QVRM (born August 1948) is a British businessman, and the founder and chairman of the Art Loss Register (ALR). Early lifeHe was educated at Eton, followed by New College, Oxford, from where he has a degree in politics and economics.[1][2] CareerIn 1970, Radcliffe joined Hogg Robinson, as a Lloyd's of London insurance broker.[2] He claims that in 1975, he was one of the co-founders of Control Risks, then a Hogg Robinson subsidiary, with Timothy Royle, an ex-Army officer.[2][3] However, he does not appear in any company literature regarding the founding process and was likely just an early minority shareholder.[4] In 1990, he founded the Art Loss Register. ("ALR") [2] Radcliffe is the majority shareholder in the Art Loss Register, with auction houses Sotheby's (a/k/a Oatshare Ltd.) owning about 11%, Christie's about 3%.[5] In 1991, The International Foundation for Art Research, based in New York City, NY (USA) helped create the Art Loss Register (ALR) as a commercial enterprise to expand and market the database. IFAR managed ALR's U.S. operations through 1997. In 1998 the ALR assumed full responsibility for the IFAR database although IFAR retains ownership[6] In 2013, Radcliffe faced controversy after he admitted to paying thieves to recover stolen art in at least a dozen cases, and has been described as a "fence" by senior European law officials.[7] According to The Times, Radcliffe often obtained stolen artwork without police approval and with the knowledge that on occasion, the money paid would be given back to the thieves themselves. Though the ALR publicly stated the company never pays anyone involved in the original theft, however Radcliffe admitted "in certain cases some payments have to be authorised".[1] Radcliffe has insisted that no payment has been made for thefts since 2010, and that his strategy had been effective at reducing crime. As of 2016, the Art Loss Register claims to be the world's largest private database of lost and stolen art, with more than 300,000 items.[8] HonoursRadcliffe was awarded an OBE in 1999 and the QVRM in 2004[2] for activities unrelated to his work at the Art Loss Register. Radcliffe refers to himself as "Col. Radcliffe" which refers to his stint in the volunteer reserve Territorial Army.[9] Personal lifeRadcliffe lives in Battersea, London,[10][11] and is the owner of Lower Stanway Farm near to Much Wenlock.[12] By 1840, Lower Stanway had become part of Sir Henry William Bayntun's Rushbury estate, and by 1909 the 293-acre property was in the ownership of the Webster family, who had previously been tenant farmers on the same land. Later it passed by marriage to Thomas Marsden, and the Marsden family owned it until 1973, when the Radcliffe family bought the farm. Lower Stanway itself is a large 19th-century brick house.[13] Radcliffe's favourite painting is A Cornfield, 1815, by Peter De Wint, in the collection of the V&A, London.[14] References
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