Denis Thatcher

Sir Denis Thatcher, 1st Baronet, was an English businessman, born in Lewisham, London, on 10 May 1915, who is best remembered as the husband of Margaret Thatcher, Britain's first female prime minister, and so the first male spouse of a British prime minister. He left Mill Hill School in 1933 to join the family paint and preservatives firm Atlas Preservatives, studied accountancy to understand the business, and became its works manager in 1935. After wartime service in the Royal Artillery, for which he was appointed MBE in 1945, he returned to run the firm, serving as managing director from 1947 and chairman from 1951 and leading its overseas expansion. In 1965 he sold Atlas to Castrol, joined the Castrol board, and after Burmah Oil took over Castrol in 1966 became a senior divisional director there until he retired in June 1975. He later sat on other boards, including Attwoods, where he was deputy chairman from 1983 to 1994, and he was created a baronet in 1990.