The enduring cultural foundations behind the Family Office's judgement, conduct and approach to stewardship.
Culture and heritage are enduring forms of capital.
Each generation inherits traditions of stewardship, learning and public responsibility, adapts them to the circumstances of its own time, and seeks to pass them forward strengthened rather than diminished.
The purpose of this page is not to present a family history. It explains the cultural foundations that shape the Family Office's judgement, conduct and approach to stewardship.
When you've gone, what's left are memories and pride, or otherwise, in the life you've lived and the way you've treated other people.
I was schooled in the old way—you did the work, you kept your word, and you didn't make a fuss about either one.
What I'd hope for Roger, Dominique, Phoenix, Cameron, Madelaine, Nikki, and for those who come after them, is that they keep their word, even when it costs them something. I'd hope they keep some humility too; good fortune is no excuse for putting on airs.
I'd also hope they remember that looking after the family isn't a duty you perform once. It's something you do quietly, year in, year out, whether anyone's watching or not.
Keep those things, and I shan't mind too much what else changes.
Leonard G. Windmill
Honorary Chairman
Stewardship extends beyond financial assets to knowledge, reputation, relationships, responsibilities and the natural environment. Commitments are expected to survive convenience and to be honoured even when doing so carries a cost.
The modern articulation of the family's principles derives from the values established by Ronald Windmill and later reconstructed and documented within the family. Duty, discretion, courtesy, competence and leaving matters better remain central expectations.
Across the last three generations, family principals accumulated ten university degrees. Formal education sits alongside independent study, professional development, practical experience, reading, research and debate.
Perspective is strengthened by engagement beyond one's principal field.
The family has long valued visual art, museums, theatre, architecture and literature. Contemporary interests include support for institutions such as Tate Modern. These interests are not presented as lifestyle signals, but as part of the wider intellectual and cultural life through which judgement is broadened.
The Family Office recognises the important contribution made by charitable organisations, cultural institutions and community initiatives to civil society. Across successive generations, family members have supported causes reflecting personal conviction and enduring values, including:
Such support is regarded as an expression of personal stewardship rather than public recognition.
Growing fruit and vegetables, repairing and repurposing rather than discarding, reducing waste and favouring organic produce are long-established family habits rather than recent branding exercises.
Sunday lunches, hospitality, intergenerational discussion, economics, politics and respectful disagreement provided an informal setting in which values and judgement were tested and transmitted.
From nineteenth-century family stewardship through the convergence of the Windmill and Bacon lines, recurring patterns include discretion, practical support and close association with those carrying significant technical, public and institutional responsibilities.