Amazing story of Yorkshire businessman who grew up in poverty and now has major City of London role

Earlier this month, eight years after being invited to join the Worshipful Company of Lightmongers, he was installed as its Master by the outgoing Lord Mayor of London, Ald Nicholas Lyons.

As the leading figure in the City of London livery company Mr McVeigh will spend the next year attending “lots of meetings, lots of lunches, lots of dinners with other livery companies, the Lord Mayor of London, Sheriffs and Aldermen of the City of London and Government people. We do a lot of good, we raise a lot of money for some very good causes”.

Mr McVeigh started from humble beginnings as one of 10 children brought up in a three-bedroom council house in Birstall, Batley, in the 1940s.

“Life was tough, there’s no doubt about it,” he said. “My mum and dad didn’t have much money, and I can remember the council bringing us Christmas presents.

“I once gave a speech at a business dinner and told my audience they might have thought the SAS invented facemasks and camouflage - but they were nothing new to me.

“Me and my dad would often black up our faces and wear scarves to disguise ourselves when we went out stealing turnips from the farmers’ fields or coal from the local woollen mills.

“Money was tight and we needed to take desperate measures just to eat and keep warm.”

Mr McVeigh’s modest start in life forced him to appreciate money – he had three jobs by the time he was 12 – and instilled in him an almost religious dedication to work.

He gave up a promising rugby league career to focus on business and launched his first company, De La Mer, in 1975, buying and selling lamps from a £6-a-week lock-up shop in Burley Road, Leeds.

Now in his 80s, this still drives him in to the office every day to head up Status, a company that recently recorded an annual turnover of £52m.

“I love the job,” he said. “I get a buzz out of it all. I don’t have to work for the money any more but I just love it.”

Status boasts a customer base across the UK and Europe, including all major national retailers, wholesalers, independent retailers and electrical wholesalers.

It moved into impressive new headquarters about two years ago. It also has distribution centres in nearby Cleckheaton and an associate company in Romania.

Status employs about 150 people, including eight in China where - with India - most of its products are made.

As well as being a driving force behind Status, along with his son Nicholas and son-in-law Andrew, Mr McVeigh has displayed a passion for charity work, partly through his work as a freemason as a member of St John’s Lodge in Dewsbury.

He represented his livery company at the Lord Mayor’s Show Parade and at the Remembrance Day service at St Paul’s Cathedral and at the Cenotaph.

Mr McVeigh is also vice-president and director of the Lighting Industry Association, UK; and a vice-president of the Chartered Trading Standards Institute for Britain and the Channel Islands.

His work was recognised in 2013 when he was made a Freeman of the City of London.

He attributes some of his success to his love of sport.

He showed early talent during his time at St Patrick’s RC Junior School in Birstall.

“When I was 11, the headmaster told me I was too rough for football and suggested I should concentrate on rugby league.

“I started playing league and captained the St Mary’s RC School, Batley; the Inter-Towns (Batley and Dewsbury); Yorkshire Schools and the National Association of Boys Clubs teams before joining Batley Boys.

“One Friday night, about 10’oclock, two Batley RL directors called to see my parents.

“I had a game next day and was already in bed – I was never one for pubbing it before a game. This impressed the directors and they offered me a £50 deposit as part of a £1,000 signing on fee. I had never seen £50 before; I didn’t even have a bank account.

He made his debut for Batley in the second row aged 21 against Halifax in April 1959. He played for nine years at Batley before signing for Hull and Leeds (both) under legendary player and coach Roy Francis.

Mr McVeigh said he was very grateful to Batley Boys and Batley RL “for setting me off on the right road and instilling a discipline in me that has served me well throughout my private and business life”.

“Coming from a family of 12, it could have gone the other way but thank God Batley put me on the straight and narrow, and playing for the club gave me lots of self-confidence.”

He left school at 15 and joined the Yorkshire Electricity Board as an apprentice. He studied at Batley Technical College for one day and two evenings a week for his City & Guilds and ONC in electrical engineering.

After two years National Service in the Royal Signals (“I volunteered for the Far East and was sent to Lincolnshire”) he took his first steps in the lighting industry when he joined Osram where he was promoted five times in six years.

An appointment at Manchester Airport when he was northern divisional sales manager for Osram was to change his life.

“The day before I had played in a tough match against Wigan and had suffered a split nose, a black eye and a cut forehead,” he said.

“Osram’s chairman was visiting the north and I was told to meet him at the airport. He took one look at my face and asked what had happened to me, ‘had I been in a car crash?’

“I told him I had been playing rugby league. He said he could not have his sales staff looking like that, and said ‘Either stop this silly rugger game or you’ll lose your job’.”

Mr McVeigh remembers discussing his dilemma with his father who told him his job was more important than sport and asked “what would happen if you lost your job and then you broke your leg?”

Reluctantly, Mr McVeigh told his boss he would stop playing and concentrate on his career… two weeks later he broke his leg.

After working for MHG (Music Hire Group) and Sunbeam Lighting, Mr McVeigh launched his first company, De La Mer, in 1975, buying and selling lamps from a £6-a-week lock-up shop in Burley Road, Leeds.

He sold the company, by then based in Birstall, 10 years later to Fobel International Ltd and joined the board, becoming acting chairman.

He launched Status International in 1991 with his son, director and company secretary Nicholas. His son-in-law Andrew is also a director.

Mr McVeigh has retained his love for rugby league.

A former director at Batley, he recently became a major sponsor of the club.