Leading light of business, Bryan Jenks, dies aged 94

Born in 1918, brought up at End Hall, Tettenhall, and educated at Uppingham School in Rutland, Mr Jenks started work in the family's Wolverhampton-based brass tap company, EP Jenks, in 1937.

His business career was interrupted by wartime service in the Army which saw him evacuated from Dunkirk with pneumonia, but in the post-war period he and his father, Ernest Percival Jenks, built the company into a major force.

It was bought by the Delta Group in 1959, but Bryan Jenks remained as a director while also heading Bullough, a large engineering combine.

He later became chairman of investment group Electra before being succeeded by the Kinver financier Michael Stoddart.

At the same time Mr Jenks became a successful cattle farmer on land near his home at Astbury Hall near Bridgnorth.

His son William, also a successful racehorse owner and now chairman of Ludlow Race Course, said: "He thoroughly enjoyed farming and particularly loved Herefords, even winning awards with them at the Royal Show including a Supreme Champion.

"He threw himself into everything he did and thoroughly enjoyed his life."

One of Bryan Jenks' biggest joys was horse racing, which saw him owning horses on the flat with some of the biggest names in the turf including Robert Sangster and Bobby McAlpine.

The three worked in the early 1960s with trainer Pat Rohan, who later became a champion trainer, but Mr Jenks' greatest enthusiasm was reserved for jump racing.

His flame colours, white crossbelts and checked cap were carried to success at Cheltenham and Royal Ascot.

He also forged a close working relationship with Worcestershire trainer Fred Rimmel, achieving further success and becoming champion National Hunt owner in the 1968/69 season.

He was elected to the Jockey Club in 1970.

Son William said: "His success at horseracing was a matter of real, real pride for him. It was something he loved and something he was very good at. Although he bred horses at Astbury, after he moved to Lambourn he continued with the horses, breeding them as well as having them in training. He passed that love of horses on to his children."

In 1971 Mr Jenks sold Astbury Hall and Astbury Farm to move to Newbury and in 1988, at the age of 70, he stepped down from his directorships and chairmanship of Bullough to retire to Monaco.

Despite the distance, he remained close to his family, as William recalls: "I'd been a jockey but had a very bad fall and couldn't carry on riding. He supported me when I wanted to start training. Years later my son Tom, who was also a jockey, decided he wanted to try cattle farming in New Zealand, my father helped him get started."

Mr Jenks lived in Monte Carlo until becoming ill some years ago, at which point he and his third wife returned to the UK where he has latterly been cared for in a nursing home.

He leaves William, his son from his first marriage, a daughter, Jane, from his second marriage, four grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

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