Sir Jack Hayward: An eccentric who loved his city

Businessman. Football club owner. But, above all, a gentleman – Sir Jack Hayward touched the hearts of all who met him.

Sir Jack, who died yesterday at the age of 91, was the archetypal British eccentric. Fiercely proud of his Wolverhampton roots, and never short of a witty one-liner.

Despite being ranked as Britain's 501st wealthiest man, with a personal fortune estimated at £160 million, he would drive for miles in his car to avoid parking charges.

Wolves fans will remember him as the man who transformed their club from a cash-strapped outfit languishing in the lower reaches of the old Second Division, to finally achieving his dream of seeing Wolves compete in the Premiership in 2003. There were low points along the way — the bitter legal wrangle with his son Jonathan, who had a brief spell as Wolves chairman will probably rate as one of the lowest points — but he will be regarded with huge affection by most Wolves supporters.

How much of his own money he actually put into Wolves has long been the subject of much speculation. Hayward himself went on record as saying he had put £78 million into the club, although more conservative estimates suggested it was closer to half of that figure.

What is beyond doubt is that it was his spending power which saw Wolves re-emergence as a force in modern football.

Jack Hayward was born on June 14, 1923, a stone's throw from Wolves' Molineux ground. the son of wealthy industrialist and philanthropist Sir Charles Haywood, he was educated at Northaw Preparatory School and Stowe School in Buckingham.

He was called up for war service in 1941, when he joined the RAF and received flight training in Clewiston, Florida. He served as an officer pilot in RAF 671 Squadron SE Asia Command, and in 1946 was demobilised as a flight lieutenant.

Sir Charles began his family's involvement with the Bahamas in the 1950s, after relocating his business from the US. Jack arrived in 1956, and became vice president of The Grand Bahama Port Authority, which helped promote the development of Freeport.

With the help of his father, he turned Freeport into an international deep waterport and industrial centre, pouring £1 million into the project.

Jack eventually took over his father's interests in the islands, and soon became one of most important people in the Bahamas, if not the most important.

His vehement patriotism earned him the nickname Union Jack in the Bahamas media. He imported 10 red London buses, and got special permission from the General Post Office to install red telephone and pillar boxes bearing the royal crest. Hayward married Jean Mary Forder in 1948 and has two sons, Rick and Jonathan, and a daughter Susan.

Both his sons have also been involved with Wolves. Jonathan joined the board upon Sir Jack's takeover in 1990, and later served as chairman before resigning in 1997. In 1999, his father controversially sued him for £237,000, claiming he was responsible for financial irregularities. The matter was settled out of court in favour of Sir Jack.

His elder son Rick became chairman of the club in 2003, taking over from Sir Jack himself, but he stepped down in 2006. His grandson Rupert joined the board in the reshuffle following Steve Morgan's takeover but resigned a year later.

Jack Hayward financed tours of the West Indies by the England women's cricket team in 1969-70 and 1970-71, and in 1973 sponsored the first ever women's cricket World Cup — two years before the first World Cup in the men's game.

He was made an OBE in 1968 for 'services to Britain', and the following year he gave the National Trust £150,000 to buy Lundy Island, off the Bristol Channel, to prevent it falling into ownership.

"As a child I used to look across at the island from the mainland, and when I was a pilot during the war I was stationed at Newquay and flew over it many times," he said.

During the 1970s and 80s he became known for his philanthropy. He was said to have given at least £20,000 to help the 5th Royal Inniskilling Dragoon Guards buy Captain Oates's medals, and in 1970 he paid £130,000 towards the cost of bringing SS Great Britain back home. Brunel's first iron passenger ship had been rotting away in the Falklands, but Hawyard's donation helped return it to Bristol where it became a museum.

Local charities also benefited from his generosity — in 1980 he paid for an executive box at Molineux so children from Old Park Special School in Dudley could watch Wolves play Stoke City.

In July, 1982, he was named as the mystery benefactor who gave £1 million to the South Atlantic Fund, to aid the families of British servicemen killed or injured during the Falklands War, although he declined to confirm it.

"Whoever made the gift must have had good reasons for not wanting his name released," Sir Jack told the Express & Star, before adding mischievously, "People out here are very patriotic towards Britain."

Certainly, nobody could ever question his love of his country. He banned foreign vehicles from entering his estate in Sussex, and would never touch French wine or mineral water. He always stopped for afternoon tea at 4pm, wherever in the world he was.

In 1994 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Wolverhampton University to mark his services to the country.

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He received the doctorate in business administration at the annual degree awards ceremony in Walsall Town Hall.

While he will always be remembered for his largesse towards Wolves, it was his financial support for another team of the orange-yellow variety that saw him make headlines in the late 1970s —finding himself the subject of much publicity he would rather have avoided. Jack Hayward first met Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe in 1969, and was immediately captivated by his engaging personality. Over the following years, Thorpe persuaded Hayward to make several donations to the Liberal Party, totalling £200,000, and the businessman found himself at the centre of one of the most high profile court cases of the century when Thorpe went on trial for conspiracy to murder.

It had been alleged that Thorpe, a married man, had been having a homosexual affair with a male model named Norman Scott and, fearing he was about to be exposed, the politician used Hayward's money to hire a hit man.

Hayward became a star witness at the trial, which saw Thorpe cleared of all charges.

"Luckily, I'm a squirrel, I never throw anything away," Hayward told Wolverhampton author Sathnam Sanghera in an interview.

"I had letters from Thorpe asking for money. They were crucial evidence. If my wife had her way, they would have been cleared out of the drawers to make way for my underpants."

He was awarded £50,000 in libel damages after the Sunday Telegraph accused him of being the 'paymaster' in the alleged murder conspiracy, in an article published in April, 1978.

For a man who described himself as 'far more right wing than Margaret Thatcher', his relationship with the Liberals always seemed rather unlikely.

"I used to say 'I don't want anything to do with Europe', and Jeremy used to say, 'My dear fellow, if we joined Europe, with our expertise on how to run an Empire, we'll be in charge of Europe!' And I would say, 'how much do you want?' Also, I felt sorry for them."

In 1986 Sir Jack was knighted for services to charity.

He spent the first part of his life building his empire.

But for Sir Jack his biggest challenge – bringing success to his beloved Wolves – was still to come.