Alexander Darwall
Alexander Darwall | |
|---|---|
| Born | Template:Birth year and age United Kingdom |
| Occupation(s) | Hedge fund manager, landowner |
| Known for | Managing Jupiter European Opportunities Trust; ownership of Dartmoor and Sutherland Estates; legal case on public access to Dartmoor |
Alexander Frederick Clifford Darwall (born June 1963) is a British hedge fund manager and landowner. He has held senior positions at prominent investment firms and contributed financially to UKIP as well as the Vote Leave campaign. In 2025, he was unsuccessful in a court case seeking to limit public access to his property on Dartmoor.
Education and early career
Darwall completed a degree in History at the University of Cambridge. He began his professional journey training as an investment analyst at de Zoete & Bevan (BZW). By 1987, he was appointed head of French equity research at Enskilda Securities based in Paris. In 1992, he joined Goldman Sachs where he worked as a French equity analyst.
Career
In 1995, Darwall became part of Jupiter Fund Management. He assumed the role of lead portfolio manager for the Jupiter European Opportunities Trust in November 2000. He maintained this position until November 2019, when the trust was renamed European Opportunities Trust PLC and Darwall stepped down from managing both the Jupiter European and Jupiter European Growth funds.
That same year, Darwall launched Devon Equity Management, focusing on long-term capital appreciation through select European investments. He oversaw assets including those of the European Opportunities Trust and a Luxembourg UCITS SICAV.
In June 2025, Devon Equity Management was acquired by River Global, owned by Martin Gilbert, for £2.46 million. Post-acquisition, Darwall joined River Global as co-head of European equities.
Land ownership
Darwall possesses multiple extensive landholdings within the UK, notably the 16,000-acre Sutherland Estate in Scotland, purchased in November 2016 for approximately £5 million. In 2018, he and his wife drew public attention by imposing a £10 daily fee on gold panners with restricted access, aiming to curb commercial exploitation of gold deposits.
Dartmoor
Since acquiring the 4,000-acre Blachford Estate on Dartmoor in 2011, Darwall has become the sixth largest landowner on the moor. The estate has benefited from grants provided by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. In 2014, he limited public parking and horse riding on a section of his property at New Waste.
In 2022, Darwall contested the interpretation of the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985 that had been understood to grant presumed public rights to wild camping on Dartmoor. Previously accepted as permissible where no harm occurred, a High Court ruling in January 2023 determined that wild camping requires explicit permission from landowners, thereby revoking Dartmoor’s distinctive legal status. Following this judgment, Darwall and other landowners negotiated compensation agreements with the Dartmoor National Park Authority to allow restricted wild camping access—an arrangement opposed by advocates for unrestricted access rights.
The ruling triggered a significant protest involving over 3,000 participants and led the park authority to appeal. In July 2023, the Court of Appeal reinstated wild camping rights on Dartmoor. Darwall then sought a Supreme Court review. In May 2025, the Supreme Court unanimously dismissed his appeal, upholding public rights to outdoor recreation—including camping—under Dartmoor’s by-laws.
Darwall has expressed that his legal efforts were intended to safeguard Dartmoor’s environment and uphold landowners’ responsibilities in its management. Nevertheless, local stakeholders have voiced concerns about environmental damage caused by pheasant releases on his estate threatening habitats of rare species such as the Blue Ground Beetle, which is found at only fifteen locations across England and Wales.
Personal life
Between 2014 and 2019, Darwall contributed a total of £89,999 to several political groups, including the UK Independence Party, the Vote Leave campaign during the 2016 EU referendum, and the Conservative Party. Among these donations was a gift to Anthony Mangnall, the former Conservative Member of Parliament representing Totnes in Devon.
His spouse, Diana Darwall, is an expert in Chinese ceramics, specializing in appraising and auctioning Chinese porcelain.