Sir Charles English Hyde Villiers, MC (14 August 1912 – 22 January 1992) was a British businessman and chairman of

British Steel Corporation British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

from 1976 till 1980.

Early life and education

Villiers was the grandson of Francis Hyde Villiers and the great-grandson of

George Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon, (12 January 180027 June 1870) was an English diplomat and statesman from the Villiers family. He served as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs three times as part of a distinguished ...

. His father, Algernon Hyde Villiers, was killed in action in 1917 during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. His mother, Beatrix Eleanor Paul, was the daughter of Liberal M.P. Herbert Paul, and she later married Walter Durant Gibbs, who later became 4th Baron Aldenham. Villiers was educated at

St Cyprian's School St Cyprian's School was an English preparatory school for boys, which operated in the early 20th century in Eastbourne, East Sussex. Like other preparatory schools, its purpose was to train pupils to do well enough in the examinations (usuall ...

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

and

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

, before joining the

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

in 1936.

Military service

He became Lieutenant-Colonel during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, served with the

Special Operations Executive The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a secret British World War II organisation. It was officially formed on 22 July 1940 under Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton, from the amalgamation of three existing secret organisations. Its pu ...

from 1943 to 1945 and was awarded the MC.

Career

Villiers was a managing director of Helbert Wagg from 1948, and of J. Henry Schroder Wagg from 1968 to 1971. He was also a director of

Courtaulds Courtaulds was a United Kingdom-based manufacturer of fabric, clothing, artificial fibres, and chemicals. It was established in 1794 and became the world's leading man-made fibre production company before being broken up in 1990 into Courtaulds ...

Sun Life Assurance Sun Life Financial Inc. is a Canadian financial services company. It is primarily known as a life insurance company. Sun Life has a presence in investment management with over Canadian dollar, CAD$1.3 trillion in assets under management operati ...

and Bass Charrington. He was Chairman of

Guinness Mahon Guinness Mahon was an Irish merchant bank originally based in Dublin but more recently with operations in London. History Formation The firm was founded as a land agency in Dublin in 1836 by barrister Robert Rundell Guinness, a great-nephew of th ...

from 1971 to 1976, and Chairman of British Steel from 1976 to 1980. In 1985 he launched the

British-American Project The British-American Project (BAP) is a transatlantic fellowship of more than 1,200 leaders and opinion formers from a broad spectrum of occupations, backgrounds and political views. BAP operates on a not-for-profit basis, funded through its member ...

, which promotes Anglo-American ties.

Personal life

He married firstly Pamela Constance Flower and had two sons, and secondly

Belgian resistance The Belgian Resistance (french: Résistance belge, nl, Belgisch verzet) collectively refers to the resistance movements opposed to the German occupation of Belgium during World War II, German occupation of Belgium during World War II. Within Be ...

heroine Countess Marie-José de la Barre d’Erquelinnes and had two daughters. He was an Officer,

Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem The Order of St John, short for Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (french: l'ordre très vénérable de l'Hôpital de Saint-Jean de Jérusalem) and also known as St John International, is a British royal order of c ...

(O.St.J.), and was decorated with the Order of the People of Yugoslavia in 1970 and Grand Officer, Order of Leopold of Belgium in 1974. His daughter

Diana Villiers Negroponte Diana Mary Villiers Negroponte (born August 14, 1947) is an English-born American trade lawyer, Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, adjunct professor of international relations at the Elliot School of Internation ...

is adjunct professor of law at

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

. She is married to former Deputy U.S. Secretary of State

John Negroponte John Dimitri Negroponte (; born July 21, 1939) is an American diplomat. He is currently a James R. Schlesinger Distinguished Professor at the Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia. He is a former J.B. and Maurice C. Sha ...

References

External links

The Papers of Sir Charles Villiers
held at

Churchill Archives Centre The Churchill Archives Centre (CAC) at Churchill College at the University of Cambridge is one of the largest repositories in the United Kingdom for the preservation and study of modern personal papers. It is best known for housing the papers of ...

1912 births 1992 deaths Charles Hyde Villiers People educated at Eton College People educated at St Cyprian's School Alumni of New College, Oxford British Special Operations Executive personnel Grenadier Guards officers British Army personnel of World War II 20th-century British businesspeople Knights Bachelor Recipients of the Military Cross {{UK-business-bio-1910s-stub