• John Jerwood MC (1918-1991)

    John Jerwood MC (1918-1991)

    John Jerwood was born in Cambridge in 1918 and won a scholarship to Oakham School in Rutland in 1930.  Although he was awarded an exhibition to Jesus College, Cambridge, he was unable to take up his place and instead started his working life in the family jewellery business in Hatton Garden, London.  He was commissioned by the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry during the Second World War in which he won an immediate M.C., while serving with the 1st batallion in Italy. After the War, he moved to Tokyo, where he married and settled, establishing what was to become one of the largest dealerships of cultured pearls in the world.  He died in 1991.

    Bold, entrepreneurial, independent and risk-taking are characteristics which epitomised the late John Jerwood, and form part of his legacy which is upheld and shared by the Jerwood family of organisations and its beneficiaries working creatively across all art forms in the UK.

    I was one of the original Jerwood Players.  One of many pupils who benefitted from the foresight and generosity of John Jerwood, an old Oakhamian, who fully recognised the benefits of the Performing Arts. - Richard Hope, actor

    Photo: John Jerwood MC (1918-1991)

  • Jerwood Foundation - The Foundation and the Founders tells the unfolding and compelling story of how John Jerwood's early philanthropic vision was enhanced over three decades, with imaginative direction and energetic application and enterprise by Alan Grieve. Initiatives have been expanded, sights raised and horizons broadened. 

    — Matthew Sturgis, historian and biographer
  • Alan Grieve CBE

    Alan Grieve CBE

    Born in London and educated at Aldenham School and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, Alan Grieve qualified as a lawyer and in 1980 became Senior Partner of Taylor & Humbert (now Taylor Wessing).

     Alan Grieve established the Jerwood Foundation for his client, John Jerwood in 1977 and at that time its principal benefactions were in the fields of education and music, with humanity at the heart of the activities and initiatives. 

     In 1991, following John Jerwood’s death and having retired from the legal profession, Alan Grieve took on the full-time role of Chairman. Under his direction, and initially with the support of an active advisory board, the Jerwood Foundation flourished as the concept of a broad education was extended to embrace the arts and cultural heritage and a wide-ranging and far-reaching funding programme in support of the visual and performing arts in the UK was put in place. Many of the partnerships initiated in the early days, continue today. 

    For over 30 years Alan Grieve has shaped the Jerwood vision.  He was honoured with a CBE for services to the arts in 2003 and in 2023 he was appointed Chairman Emeritus of Jerwood Foundation.

     Photo: Charlotte Bromley-Davenport