Peter Brandt

Peter Brandt was a banker by profession, and was the ninth generation of a 17th century Polish/German family of merchants who eventually came to London in 1805 and shortly afterwards established the bank of Wm. Brandt’s Sons & Company.

Brandt started working in the company in 1954, having been educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge. It was after completing his two year’s National Service in the Royal Navy that he joined the family business and became managing director in 1966. He remained with them until 1972 when they were taken over by National and Grindlays bank, after more than 160 years trading.

At Cambridge, Brandt rowed for First and Third Trinity Boat Club and specialised in double sculling. He was a semi-finalist in the double sculls at Henley in 1952 with John MacMillan and reached the final of the Magdalene Pairs at Cambridge the following year.

Brandt went to the Helsinki Olympics in 1952 and partnered MacMillan. They nearly missed out on selection, however, after finishing second in the Olympic trial at Henley to Dickie Burnell and Pat Bradley of Leander, but the two crews’ oars were overlapping at the finish. After the Trinity men put in an objection the race was re-run 10 days later, which Brandt and MacMillan won by four lengths.

Although he never won a rowing Blue, Brandt was on the fringe of the 1954 Cambridge Boat Race crew but a strained arm forced him to miss a crucial part of the season. Despite not winning a Blue, he was nominated for the Cambridge University Boat Club presidency in 1953. In his retirement, Brandt enjoyed sailing, steam engines, wild fowl, and collected water colours by English artists. Shortly before his death, Brandt published the book Wm. Brandt’s Sons & Co: The Story of a Family Trading Company.