Henry Chilver, Baron Chilver
British engineer and politician (1926–2012)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Amos) Henry Chilver, Baron Chilver Kt. FRS[1] FREng (30 October 1926 – 8 July 2012) was a British engineer and politician.
30 October 1926
The Lord Chilver | |
|---|---|
| |
| Member of the House of Lords | |
| Life peerage 14 July 1987 – 8 July 2012 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Amos Henry Chilver 30 October 1926 Barking, Essex |
| Died | 8 July 2012 (aged 85) |
| Party | Conservative |
| Spouse |
Claudia Grigson (m. 1959) |
| Relations | Christopher Grigson (brother-in-law) Wilfrid Grigson (father-in-law) |
| Children | 2 daughters, 3 sons |
| Education | Southend High School for Boys |
| Alma mater | University of Bristol |
| Occupation |
|
| Scientific career | |
| Awards | Telford Medal – Gold 1962 |
| Fields | Mechanical Engineering |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | Thin-Walled Structural Members: a study of the strength of cold-rolled mild-steel sections with particular reference to the effects of local instability (1950) |
| Doctoral advisor | Sir Alfred Pugsley |
| Doctoral students | J. Michael T. Thompson (1962) |
| Academic offices | |
| Chairman of the Universities Funding Council | |
| In office 1988–1991 | |
| Chief Executive | Peter Swinnerton-Dyer |
| Vice-chancellor of Cranfield institute of Technology. | |
| In office 1970–1989 | |
| Preceded by | First incumbent |
| Succeeded by | Frank Robinson Hartley |
| Vice-president of Institution of Civil Engineers | |
| In office 1981–1983 | |
Early life and career
Chilver was born in Barking, Essex, to Amos Henry Chilver and his wife Annie E. Mack. After attending Southend High School for Boys, he took up a place at the University of Bristol, where he gained a BSc in Mechanical Engineering in 1947.[1][2] He gained a PhD in Civil Engineering in 1951, and a DSc in 1962.[2] From 1952 to 1954, he was a lecturer at the University of Bristol, and between 1958 and 1961 he taught at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.[3] Between 1961 and 1969, he was Chadwick Professor of Civil Engineering at University College London.[4] Between 1970 and 1989 he was Vice-Chancellor of Cranfield University.
In the early 1980s, he was Chairman of the Northern Ireland Higher Education Review Group, which was tasked with producing a report called the Chilver Report on how to unify the Initial teacher education (ITE) used in Northern Ireland.[5] He was the Chairman of the Post Office between 1980 and 1981.[6] In 1983, he succeeded Lord Campbell as Chairman of the Milton Keynes Development Corporation (MKDC).[7] Between 1992 and 1995 he was Chairman of English China Clays,[8] and on 25 February 1993, he was appointed Chairman of RJB Mining.[9] He has also been a director of ICI.[1][9]
Awards
He was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1977 and the Royal Society[1] in 1982. In 1978 he was made a Knight Bachelor.[10] He held honorary DScs from the University of Leeds (1982),[11] the University of Bristol (1983),[2] the University of Salford, the University of Strathclyde (1986),[12] the University of Buckingham, the University of Bath (1986) and the University of Technology of Compiègne.
In 1987, he was made a life peer as Baron Chilver, of Cranfield in the County of Bedfordshire,[13] and he was introduced to the House of Lords on 15 July.[14]
Personal life
In 1959 he married Dr Claudia Grigson, the sister of Christopher Grigson[15] and they had five children: Helen, Sarah, John, Mark and Paul.
Published works
- Problems in Engineering Structures with R S Ashby (1958)
- Strength of Materials with J Case (1959)