Sir Harold Howitt 1886-1969

Training as a chartered accountant 

In 1904 Howitt was articled to W. R. Hamilton in Nottingham. After qualifying he moved to London to gain further experience, joining W. B. Peat & Co. in September 1909. Howitt accepted a partnership in their Middlesbrough office in 1911 and remained with the firm until 1961, retiring at the age of 75.

In his initial placement with the firm Howitt memorably travelled to the Donetz coal basin in 1910, tasked with reorganising one of the collieries. Howitt reached the mine by hiding away on a freight train and arrived to discover that he had to handle a near mutiny by the workforce, who were threatening to stop the pumps and flood the mine. Howitt arranged for money to be brought in under Cossack guard to resolve the immediate problem and spent three months getting the mine back up and running.

Crossing the Atlantic 

Taking a break from his work in 1912, Howitt travelled to America with friends and family. Reflecting later in life, he said this was a moment where his tale might have finished.

“We tried to get tickets for the maiden voyage of the Titanic, but luckily we failed and booked instead on her sister ship, Olympic.”

After the crew of the Olympic went on strike, fearing that their ship must be as unseaworthy as the Titanic, Howitt and his friend offered to stoke the boilers to get the ship across the Atlantic. However, after a three day wait, they were put ashore.

With his holiday leave dwindling Howitt booked tickets on the Lusitania instead. The crew threatened to strike in solidarity if any passengers from the Olympic boarded. To avoid being identified as Olympic passengers, Howitt and his travelling companion removed the labels from their luggage and had to lie low until the ship was out at sea.

"As we passed over the place where the Titanic had sunk a week or so before, we stopped engines and wreaths were thrown on the water."

Military and wartime service 

World War One

Howitt left the offices of W. B. Peat & Co. on 4 August 1914, the day war was declared, to join up with Alexandra, Princess of Wales's Own Yorkshire Regiment. The firm agreed to his enlistment, and he retained his partnership at a reduced rate. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant with the 4th Battalion on 12 September 1914.

At the Second Battle of the Somme, on 15 September 1916, Howitt went out on a mission to locate the enemy and crawled out with a sergeant along two old German trenches under heavy fire. Sadly, his companion was killed, but the bullet stopped just short of Howitt. For his actions during the mission and the intelligence he brought back, he was awarded the Military Cross.

During the Spring Offensive of 1918 Howitt was taken prisoner and was recommended by his superiors for the Victoria Cross but ultimately received the Distinguished Service Order. The citation published in the London Gazette read:

Prior to the award of the DSO, Howitt was mentioned in despatches and it likely that this formed part of the recommendation for the award of the DSO.

Word War Two

In the Second World War he was a member of the Air Council and the Air Supply Board, assisting with financial control and liaising with the Treasury. He also served on, and sometimes chaired, the ‘gadget committee’, which met with the leading scientists and manufacturers to decide on the production of all the latest designs of radar, bombs and aircraft.

Identifying the need to repair damaged aircraft around the country after the Battle of Britain Howitt worked on the plans to set up the Civilian Repair Organisation with Lord Nuffield. In his spare time he was a member of the Home Guard, second-in-command of his local Middlesex Battalion.

Later, he would play a part in the selection of Heathrow as the site for an airport, though he later regretted this when he moved to Barnes and found himself directly under the flightpath.

“One of our early preoccupations was to find an aerodrome near London, suitable for current military transport purposes and likely to be a suitable post-war civil airport.” Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Frederick Bowhill and General Critchley with Howitt “spent some time flying all round London at a radius of up to 50 miles looking at potential sites. In the end we decided to recommend the area around Heathrow, which was then nothing more than open fields with houses and a stream running through it. It was also said to be the most fog-free district. And so London Airport came to be chosen.”

Professional leadership and public appointments 

Howitt was elected to the ICAEW Council in 1931 and served until 1960, becoming ICAEW President for 1945-46. During his presidency, Howitt took a particular interest in helping members returning from war service to bring their professional knowledge up to date.

In the global arena Howitt took on the presidency of the International Congress of Accounting held in London in 1952 and played an important part in the successful resumption of international co-operation among accountancy bodies after the Second World War.

Over the course of his career Howitt took on many appointments, from the chair of B.O.A.C. (later to become British Airways) to chair of a committee looking at the reorganisation of the British pig industry. The final report of the latter, published in 1955, was widely known as the "Howitt Report".

“At that time I was myself running a small pig farm in Berkshire and soon found how much easier it was to write reports on agriculture than to be a successful farmer.”

In 1957 Harold Macmillan asked Howitt to become one of the three original members of the Council on Prices, Productivity and Incomes (popularly dubbed the ‘Three Wise Men’). The council was set up to monitor wage/price fluctuations as part of a drive to help steer the country towards full employment and increased standards of living through the expansion of industry.

Outdoor pursuits 

Outside of his accountancy career, Howitt was a keen sportsman, making 100 appearances for Nottingham RFC (where he played alongside his brothers) and playing for Harlequins for two seasons.

Charitable and voluntary activities 

Howitt's charitable and voluntary work was strongly focused on the needs of young people, which was also reflected in his role for thirty years on ICAEW’s examination committee and five years spent as president of the London Students’ Society.

Howitt also held positions on the court of the Merchant Taylors’ Company (becoming Master of the Company in 1953) and spent twenty years as a magistrate. In his time as chairman of the bench at Hampstead he took the deposition of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain, and committed her to trial.

Honours 

Howitt was knighted in 1937 and was awarded the Grand Cross of the British Empire in 1946.