Carl Nater (1909-1997) was Jacques Cartier's Swiss son-in-law, who married into the family in 1936. He is remembered for his role during the Second World War, when he helped protect Cartier London through some of its most dangerous nights.
During the Blitz, which began on 6 September 1940, Nater took shifts on the roof of 175 New Bond Street with hoses, ready to douse incendiary bombs before they could set the building alight. The store remained open throughout the war, a point of continuity at a time when much of central London was under nightly bombardment.
Jacques himself was in failing health by this period. He had collapsed at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay on 13 March 1935 and never fully recovered. He died on 10 September 1941, leaving the London branch to be carried forward by the next generation, including his son Jean-Jacques Cartier (1919-2010), who would run Cartier London in the post-war decades.
Sources
- Francesca Cartier Brickell, The Cartiers (Ballantine Books, 2019), ch. 9 ("The War Years").
