It was with deep sadness and regret that the Worshipful Company of Bakers announced the sudden and untimely death of The Master, Simon Springett, who was elected on 29th November 2021.
After a valiant fight against illness, Simon passed away in the early hours of Friday 11th March 2022. All members of the Bakers’ Company joined in expressing condolences and sympathy to Simon’s wife, Sandra, their children, James and Rebecca, and the whole Springett family.
Simon was from a baking family. His paternal great grandfather owned “Springett’s” a Bakery in East London. His paternal grandfather built a baking business from a single horse and cart round to a manufacturing business, based in Dagenham, producing 10,000 loaves a day under the Stafford brand. His uncle, Lionel, and his father, Derek, were both Masters of the Livery in 1991-2 and 1994-5 respectively.
Simon was educated at Felsted School Essex and followed his father, Derek, into the world of finance. His career started with the London Electricity Board, and he qualified as a Chartered Accountant whilst working for the Barclay Brothers at Ellerman Lines. After time spent at Tottenham Football Club and Fred Olsen, in 1995 Simon joined a startup international oil trading and supply business as the Finance Director. The Group rapidly grew and through its subsidiary Harvest Energy was arguably the largest private supplier of UK road fuels in the 2000’s with a market share of approximately 13%. In late 2007, the business was sold to Private equity and Simon left in 2009 to establish a financial consultancy business to the oil trading supply sector with clients in the UK, Luxembourg, and Turkey.
In his leisure time Simon was an enthusiastic sports fan, especially cricket, and had recently taken up golf. He was a member of Tower Ward, United Wards and the Royal Society of St George. He was a Freemason and Secretary to the Bakers' affiliated Lodge, Laus Deo.