![Bernard Sunley 1910-1964 Contractor and philanthropist lived and worked here 1941-1958](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Bernard_Sunley_1910-1964_Contractor_and_philanthropist_lived_and_worked_here_1941-1958.jpg)
Bernard Sunley (4 November 1910 – 20 November 1964) was a British property developer, and the founder of
Bernard Sunley & Sons
Bernard Sunley & Sons was a British property development company.
It was founded in 1940 as Bernard Sunley & Son by Bernard Sunley (1910–1964) who "ranked alongside the most successful property developers of the 1950s property boom".
The compan ...
.
Born at
Catford
Catford is a district in south east London, England, and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Lewisham. It is southwest of Lewisham itself, mostly in the Rushey Green (ward), Rushey Green and Catford South Ward (electoral subdiv ...
in south-east London, he was the son of John Sunley, a florist and fruiterer, and was educated at St Ann's School in
Hanwell
Hanwell () is a town in the London Borough of Ealing, in the historic County of Middlesex, England. It is about 1.5 miles west of Ealing Broadway and had a population of 28,768 as of 2011. It is the westernmost location of the London post t ...
. After leaving school at the age of fourteen, he hired a horse and cart to move earth, and then went into the landscape gardening business.
One of his first major contracts was re-laying the pitch at Highbury for
Arsenal FC
Arsenal Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, London, England. Arsenal plays in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The club has won 13 league titles (inclu ...
.
In November 1931, at Holy Trinity Church,
Southall
Southall () is a large suburban county of West London, England, part of the London Borough of Ealing and is one of its seven major towns. It is situated west of Charing Cross and had a population of 69,857 as of 2011. It is generally divided ...
, Sunley married Mary Goddard, a daughter of William Goddard, a farmer, of Waxlow Farm, Southall.
[''Marriages solemnized at the parish church of Holy Trinity Southall in the County of Middlesex'']
No. 138, November 18, 1931
ancestry.co.uk, accessed 22 November 2022 They had two daughters and a son.
From earth-moving, Sunley moved into the open-cast mining business. In 1940, he founded
Bernard Sunley & Sons
Bernard Sunley & Sons was a British property development company.
It was founded in 1940 as Bernard Sunley & Son by Bernard Sunley (1910–1964) who "ranked alongside the most successful property developers of the 1950s property boom".
The compan ...
.
During the Second World War he built over 100 airfields, and in 1942 he purchased the business of Blackwood Hodge, then a supplier of agricultural machinery and later a successful plant hire and sale business.
He subsequently "ranked alongside the most successful property developers of the 1950s property boom".
Sunley campaigned as a Conservative Party candidate for
Ealing West in 1945, but was unsuccessful.
Sunley established the Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation in 1960 with a pledge of £300,000-worth of shares. As of 2011, it had made grants of more than £92 million.
He died in 1964. His son, John Sunley (died 2011) was a property developer and philanthropist.
[John Sunley ](_blank)
''The Daily Telegraph'', 22 March 2011 His grandson is
Richard Tice
Richard James Sunley Tice (born 13 September 1964) is a British businessman and right wing politician who has been Leader of Reform UK since 6 March 2021.
Tice was CEO of the real estate group CLS Holdings from 2010 to 2014, after which he bec ...
, a businessman and leader of
Reform UK
Reform UK is a right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was briefly a significant po ...
.
Bernard Sunley Hall, named after him, is a
hall of residence
A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...
for
Imperial College London
Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...
students at 40–44
Evelyn Gardens
Evelyn Gardens is a garden square in Chelsea, London, England.
Location
The square is to the north-west of Fulham Road, and Roland Gardens, comes off the north-west corner of the square.
History
The land belonged to Sir Charles James Freake. ...
Square.
See also
*
City Tower, Manchester
City Tower (formerly Sunley House) is a 30-storey skyscraper situated in the Piccadilly Gardens area of Manchester city centre in England. As of 2022, it is the tallest office building in Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Man ...
(formerly Sunley House)
References
1910 births
1964 deaths
British company founders
People from Catford
Sunley family
20th-century British businesspeople
{{UK-business-bio-stub