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Roger Chorley, 2nd Baron Chorley

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The Right Honourable
The Lord Chorley
Chorley in 2011
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
as a hereditary peer
22 March 1978 – 11 November 1999
Preceded byThe 1st Baron Chorley
Succeeded bySeat abolished
as an elected hereditary peer
11 September 2001 – 17 November 2014
Election11 September 2001
Preceded byThe 7th Earl of Carnarvon
Succeeded byThe 9th Baron Thurlow
Personal details
Born
Roger Richard Edward Chorley

(1930-08-14)14 August 1930
Died21 February 2016(2016-02-21) (aged 85)
Political partyCrossbench
Parents
Education
OccupationChartered accountant, politician and peer

Roger Richard Edward Chorley, 2nd Baron Chorley (14 August 1930 – 21 February 2016), was a British chartered accountant and peer.

The son of the Robert Chorley, 1st Baron Chorley, Roger Chorley was educated at Stowe School, Buckinghamshire, and at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in natural sciences and economics in 1953. He succeeded to his father's title in 1978.

Chorley worked for Coopers and Lybrand from 1954 to 1990, as partner from 1967 to 1989. He was a member of the Royal Commission on the Press between 1974 and 1977, and of the Ordnance Survey Review Committee in 1978 and 1979. From 1980 to 1991, he was also a board member of the Royal National Theatre, and from 1981 to 1999 of the British Council. Between 1991 and 1999, he was also the latter's deputy chairman.

Between 1985 and 1987 Chorley chaired the Committee on Handling of Geographic Information, known as the Chorley Committee. This made recommendations on the conversion of Ordnance Survey maps from paper to computer form, making more Government data available, Grid referencing and Postcode referencing of data, measures to promote the use of computerised Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and investment required in training and research and development.[1]

Chorley was a member of the Top Salaries Review Body from 1981 to 1991, of the Ordnance Survey Advisory Board from 1982 to 1985, and of the Natural Environment Research Council 1988 to 1994. Between 1987 and 1990, he was President of the Royal Geographical Society. He was a member of The Integrated Sciences Advisory Panel.[2]

He was one of the ninety elected hereditary peers to remain in the House of Lords after the House of Lords Act 1999. Being the runner-up in the 1999 election, he replaced the 7th Earl of Carnarvon, after the latter's death in 2001, sitting as a crossbencher. He resigned from the House under the House of Lords Reform Act 2014 on 17 November 2014.[3]

Mountaineering

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Chorley's parents were both enthusiastic climbers, his father was a President of the Fell & Rock Climbing Club (1935 - 1937) and became Vice President of the Alpine Club (1957 - 1958) and his mother was Vice-President of the FRCC in 1953 and became President of the Ladies’ Alpine Club (1953 - 1955).[4]

Chorley inherited their enthusiasm for mountaineering and the environment, he joined the Cambridge University Mountaineering Club when he became a student and later became the club's President (1952-1953).[5] He was a member of the management committee of the Mount Everest Foundation (1968-70), President of the Alpine Club from 1983–1985,[6] and patron of the British Mountaineering Council.[5]

In 1954 he was part of a Cambridge University team, led by Alfred Tissières, which attempted to ascend Rakaposhi (7,788 metres (25,551 ft)) which, at that time, had never been climbed.[7] The party included George Band, who was a member of the team that made the first ascent of Everest, and Major General Mian Hayaud Din, the Chief of General Staff of the Pakistan Army.

He went to Nepal in 1957 as part of a British team to attempt Machapuchare which was also unclimbed. Wilfrid Noyce and A. D. M. Cox climbed to within 150 ft (46 m) of the summit, adhering to the word of honor given to the then King Mahendra, they descended without stepping on to the summit.[8] However, early in the expedition Chorley contracted polio and with the assistance of Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Roberts, the expedition leader, he left the expedition to seek medical assisstance.[9][8]

He was a founding member of the Mountain Heritage Trust[5] and he donated his library of mountaineering material to the Trust in 2013.[10]

Family

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Gravestone at Hawkshead Parish Church

He married Ann Elizabeth Debenham in 1964 and they had two sons. He died on 21 February 2016 at the age of 85.[11] and she died on 20 August 2021 at the age of 90. She is buried at St Michael and All Angels Church, Hawkshead, Cumbria, with a gravestone which marks their lives in the churchyard.

Arms

[edit]
Coat of arms of Roger Chorley, 2nd Baron Chorley
Crest
In front of two torches in saltire Or and inflamed a teazle stalked and leaved Proper.
Escutcheon
Per chevron Argent and Vert in chief two bluebottles Proper and in base a fountain.
Supporters
On either side a buzzard Proper.
Motto
Propositi Tenax (Tenacious of Purpose)[12]

References

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  1. ^ Department of the Environment 1987, Handling Geographic Information: Report of the Committee of Enquiry chaired by Lord Chorley, HMSO, ISBN 0-11-752015-2
  2. ^ The i-Science Advisory Panel
  3. ^ https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201415/ldhansrd/text/141117-0001.htm#1411179000426 Lords Hansard for 17 November 2014
  4. ^ Innerdale, John (2016). "In Memoriam – Lord Chorley (1930-2016)" (PDF). Alpine Journal. #120 (364): 370–375. ISSN 0065-6569. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  5. ^ a b c Stirling, Sarah (9 March 2016). "Remembering BMC Patron Lord Chorley". The BMC. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  6. ^ Barker, Dennis (26 February 2016). "Obituary: Lord Chorley". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  7. ^ Chorley, Roger (1956). "To the Monk's Head on Rakaposhi". Himalayan Journal. 19: 109–119. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
  8. ^ a b Noyce, Wilfrid (1998) [1958]. Climbing the Fish's Tail. Pilgrims Book House. ISBN 978-8173031007. OCLC 857085947. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  9. ^ Noyce, Wilfrid (1958). "Asia, Nepal, Machapuchare". American Alpine Journal. #11 (32): 118–120. ISSN 0065-6925. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  10. ^ "Mountaineering Library opens at former Wordsworth home in Grasmere". Westmorland Gazette. 20 April 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2024.
  11. ^ Announcement, [The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph] 23 February 2016.
  12. ^ Debrett's Peerage. 2019.
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Baron Chorley
1978–2016
Member of the House of Lords
(1978–1999) 		Succeeded by
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Elected hereditary peer to the House of Lords
under the House of Lords Act 1999
2001–2014 		Succeeded by
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