Seligman was born in Leatherhead, Surrey. His ancestors were German Jewish bankers who dispersed to Britain and the United States in the 19th century. His father, Richard, founded an industrial machinery business and his mother, Hilda, was a sculptor, author, activist, and philanthropist. He had an older sister, Audrey Babette Seligman (1907–1990), and three older brothers: Adrian (1909–2003), a Royal Navy Commander; Peter; and Oliver (who was killed in World War II).
After the war, Seligman joined the industrial machinery business founded by his father. The A.P.V. Company, based in Crawley, produced a wide range of industrial equipment, mainly for food and drink processing. Seligman rose to be managing director.[2]
He married Nancy-Joan Marks, in 1947, and they had three sons and a daughter.
Friendship with Edward Heath
Seligman was well known as the oldest friend of the former prime minister Sir Edward Heath whom he met at Balliol College, Oxford, in 1937. Heath was godfather to his eldest son, Lincoln, and frequently holidayed with Seligman's family.[4] In 1939, in the days before the outbreak of war, he was on a hiking holiday with Heath in Germany and Poland, an especially risky endeavour for Seligman, who was half Jewish. In Warsaw, they were warned by the British embassy to get out of Poland as fast as possible. They avoided being picked up by taking crowded trains and hitchhiking. While they were in Leipzig on 26 August, the news of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was announced and they only just got to France before hostilities broke out.
References
↑"Obituary: Madron Seligman". The Times. No.67506. London. 18 July 2002. p.37.
