Christopher Benson (businessman)
Sir Christopher Benson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Christopher John Benson 20 July 1933 Staffordshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation(s) | Chartered surveyor and company director |
| Spouse |
Margaret Josephine Bundy
(m. 1960) |
Sir Christopher John Benson, OAM DL (born 20 July 1933) is a British chartered surveyor and company director, formerly chairman of major companies and public bodies and a High Sheriff of Wiltshire.
Benson was born in Staffordshire in 1933,[1] the son of Charles Woodburn Benson, by his marriage to Catherine Clara Bishton. He trained as a chartered surveyor and became a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. He was knighted in 1988.[2] Also in 1988, he became a director of Sun Alliance and in 1993 was elected as its chairman. In 1997, he was appointed by the government to chair its Funding Agency for Schools.[3]
Benson has also served as Chairman of MEPC plc, Costain Group, Boots, Albright and Wilson, and the London Docklands Development Corporation. Outside business, he is a vice-president of the Royal Society of Arts, a past High Sheriff of Wiltshire, a past Master of the Company of Watermen and Lightermen and a President of the Coram Foundation. He is an honorary bencher of the Middle Temple, serving on its Scholarship Fund Appeal Committee.[4]
Benson was awarded an honorary Medal of the Order of Australia on 28 January 2020 for service to the bilateral relationship between Australia and the United Kingdom.[5]
Private life
In 1960, in Salisbury, Benson married Margaret Josephine Bundy,[6] a daughter of Ernest Jefferis Bundy. She was later a Justice of the Peace and a Deputy Lieutenant of Wiltshire.[2][7]
Notes
- ^ “BENSON Christopher J / Bishton /Cannock / 6b 582” in General Index to Births in England and Wales, 1933
- ^ a b ”Benson, Sir Christopher (John)” in Who's Who online, accessed 28 April 2020 (subscription required)
- ^ Fran Abrams, Labour berates Quango largesse in The Independent, 25 February 1997, accessed 27 April 2020
- ^ Masters of the Bench: Sir Christopher Benson FRICS JP DL at middletemple.org.uk, accessed 27 April 2020
- ^ "Order of Australia" (PDF). Gazette. Commonwealth of Australia. 28 January 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
- ^ “BENSON Christopher J / BUNDY Josephine M / Salisbury / 7c 1047” in General Index to Marriages in England and Wales, 1960
- ^ London Gazette, 14 February 1997, page 1925 (Commissions signed by the Lord Lieutenant of the County of Wiltshire on 3 February 1997)