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= George J. Cole =

George James Cole (3 February 1906 - 29 November 1979) or Baron Cole of Blackfriars in the County of London, was a prominent businessman who occupied several relevant positions in companies like the United Africa Company, Niger Company and Unilever Ltd throughout his lifetime. He was also awarded different honours such as the Order of Orange-Nassau and was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire.

Personal life
George Cole was born in Singapore to British parents in 1906.

Career
In 1923, at the age of seventeen, he joined the Niger Company as a junior clerk and by 1924 was in charge of the Statistical Department. Two years later, in 1926 he visited West Africa for the first time as a personal assistant to the Vice-Chairman of the Niger Company.

He occupied several positions within the United Africa Company (UAC), which was created after a merger of the Niger Company with the African and Eastern Trade Corporation Ltd on the 3rd of March 1929. He was part of the Buying Department in charge of the provisions buying sections from 1932. In 1936, he reported upon and produced plans for the development of the business in French Ivory Coast, and in 1937 was put in charge of the Coast Transport Department.

In 1939, he was in Nigeria as a London Representative at Nigeria Control. He later transferred to London to become the Chairman of the Coast Committee, which was responsible for the management of UAC business in British West Africa. During the Second World War he was seconded to the staff of the Resident Minister in West Africa, Lord Swinton, and was appointed Chairman of the Shipping and Transport Committee.

In January 1945 he became a Director of the UAC, and was elected to the boards of Unilever Limited and Unilever NV in 1948 and 1949 respectively. Between 1952 and 1955 he was Joint Managing Director of UAC, and Chairman of Palm Line Limited.

In 1955 he relinquished his positions but remained on the Board of the UAC. A year later he became Vice-Chairman of Unilever Ltd and a member of the Special Committee.

In 1960 George Cole became Chairman of Unilever Ltd and Vice Chairman of Unilever NV. Three years later, in 1963, he was appointed Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. Cole would often pay frequent visits to factories with some of his co-workers, some of them being recorded and/or published and photographed.

In 1965 George Cole was given a Life Barony in the New Years Honours (Baron Cole of Blackfriars in the County of London). His portrait by Edward Irvine Halliday, (President of the Royal Society of British Artists and member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters) was painted that year.

In May 1970 Lord Cole retired from all his appointments with Unilever at the Annual General Meeting, having served the Unilever Group and its predecessors for 46 years. In 1973 Lord Cole was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire.

Outside appointments

 * Chairman of the Central Office of Information Advisory Committee on the Appointment of Advertising Agents (1962-70).
 * Member of the International Advisory Committee to the Chase Manhattan Bank, New York (1965-73).
 * Chairman of Rolls Royce Ltd (1970-72).
 * President of the Advertising Association (1970-73).
 * Chairman of the Trustees of the Leverhulme Trust (1970-75).
 * Director of Shell Transport and Trading Company (1971-75).