OXFORDSHIRE’s poor old millionaires and billionaires have taken a knock in the current financial downturn.

According to The Sunday Times Rich List for 2009, Sir Richard Branson, who lives in Kidlington, has seen more than half his assets disappear – with his wealth shrinking from £2.7bn in 2008 to £1.2bn now, a drop of £1.5bn.

And it means the Virgin tycoon has dropped 12 places in the list to 32nd.

Former Oxford United chirman Firoz Kassam – who still owns the Kassam Stadium and the Heythrop Park Hotel, at Enstone – is also feeling the effects, shedding £95m. His fortune has sunk from £275m last year to £180m now.

He has also dropped from 297th richest person on the list to 309th.

A newcomer to the list of rich Oxfordshire residents is Elisabeth Murdoch, daughter of Australian-born media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, who last year bought the historic Burford Priory from the Anglican Benedictine monks and nuns who previously lived there, for a reported £6.3m.

She and her husband Matthew Freud come in at number 378 with £148m, down from £166m in 2008.

Booksellers and publishers Nigel and Toby Blackwell, down at 237, with a worth of £240m, have seen £30m evaporate during the year.

The list reports the worth of high flyers David and Simon Reuben, who together with finance house Dawnay Day, bought Oxford Airport in 2007 for £40m, dived by £1.8bn to £2.5bn.

List compiler Philip Beresford said that the wealth of the UK’s richest 1,000 people had declined by a third.

Stephan Chambers, chairman of the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at the Said Business School, said that the rich had been put in the same boat as the rest of us – proportionately.

He added: “I don’t think it will diminish their incentive to continue their work – any more than it will stop the rest of us from going out to work.

“In fact, for Oxford University business students, the banking crisis encourages entrepreneurs, because it removes the easier option of going to work in the City.

“Many now think about how they can tackle problems such as poverty, pollution, climate change, rather than just making money. ”

Roddie Fleming and family, bankers and cousins of James Bond creator Ian, who own property in west Oxfordshire, come in 17th with £1.55bn, again a drop of about £350m.

Syrian-born Wafic Said, who gave £20m to Oxford University’s Said Business School and has pledged another £25m, still has £1bn, the same as last year, andis now at number 40 – up from 71.

Sir Anthony Bamford, of Daylesford House, near Kingham, owner of the firm that manufactures the JCB diggers that bear his father’s initials, has lost £1bn this year. He is listed at number 44 with £950m (2008: £1.95bn).

His near-neighbours, the Astor family at Bruern Abbey, at number 382, with £145m, have lost £30m in the past year.

Ex-Beatle George Harrison famously wrote about the Taxman’s grab for money and his widow Olivia and son Dhani, who live at Friar Park, in Henley, have seen their finances dip by £20m to £140m.

The head of the Enstone-based Renault F1 team, Flavio Briatore, is at number 492 with £110m (down £10m); Dr Jan Hruska of Abingdon computer security company Sophos is at number 575 with £95m (down £25m); and the Duke of Marlborough, of Blenheim Palace, Woodstock is at number 863 with £65m (2008: £70m).

Oxford-born Harry Potter film actress Emma Watson comes 29th in the top 100 list of richest young people, with a fortune of £12m.

business@oxfordmail.co.uk