(Amos) Henry Chilver, Baron Chilver FRS

FREng Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) is an award and Scholarship, fellowship for engineers who are recognised by the Royal Academy of Engineering as being the best and brightest engineers, inventors and technologists in the UK a ...

(30 October 1926 – 8 July 2012) was a British engineer and politician.

Early life and career

Chilver was born in

Barking Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, a local government district covering the town of Barking ** Municipal Borough of Barking, a historical local government dist ...

, Essex, to Amos Henry Chilver and his wife Annie E. Mack. After attending

Southend High School for Boys (To the determined, nothing is difficult) , established = 1895 (founded), 1939 (moved to current premises) , closed = , type = Grammar school , religious_affiliation = Anglican , president ...

he took up a place at the

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

, where he gained a BSc in Mechanical Engineering in 1947. He gained a PhD in Civil Engineering in 1951, and a DSc in 1962. 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 Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus"), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th century through to the early 19th century ...

. Between 1961 and 1969 he was Chadwick Professor of Civil Engineering at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. Between 1970 and 1989 he was Vice-Chancellor of

Cranfield University , mottoeng = After clouds light , established = 1946 - College of Aeronautics 1969 - Cranfield Institute of Technology (gained university status by royal charter) 1993 - Cranfield University (adopted current name) , type = Public research uni ...

. In the early 1980s he was Chairman of the

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

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. He was the Chairman of the

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between 1980 and 1981. In 1983 he succeeded Lord Campbell as Chairman of the

Milton Keynes Development Corporation Milton Keynes Development Corporation (MKDC) was a development corporation operating from 1967 to 1992 oversee the planning and early development of Milton Keynes, a new town midway between London and Birmingham. Establishment MKDC established o ...

(MKDC). Between 1992 and 1995 he was Chairman of

English China Clays English China Clays PLC, or ECC, was a mining company involved in the extraction of china clay, based in St Austell, Cornwall. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but in 1999 was acquired by Imetal. History English China Clays was i ...

, and on 25 February 1993 he was appointed Chairman of

RJB Mining RJB may refer to: * Radio Bernese Jura * Rajbiraj Airport, Nepal, IATA airport code * Ring junger Bünde The Ring junger Bünde (RjB) is an umbrella organization of about 20 independent and self-responsible interreligious German Scout and Wandervo ...

. He has also been a director of ICI.

Awards

He was made a Fellow of the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senior ...

in 1977 and the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1982. In 1978 he was made a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...

. He held honorary DScs from the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

(1982), the

(1983), the

University of Salford , caption = Coat of ArmsUniversity of Salford , mottoeng = "Let us seek higher things" , established = 1850 - Pendleton Mechanics Institute 1896 – Royal Technical Institute, Salford 1967 – gained ...

, the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde ( gd, Oilthigh Shrath Chluaidh) is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal chart ...

(1986), the

University of Buckingham , mottoeng = Flying on Our Own Wings , established = 1973; as university college1983; as university , type = Private , endowment = , administrative_staff = 97 academic, 103 support , chance ...

, the

University of Bath (Virgil, Georgics II) , mottoeng = Learn the culture proper to each after its kind , established = 1886 (Merchant Venturers Technical College) 1960 (Bristol College of Science and Technology) 1966 (Bath University of Technology) 1971 (univ ...

(1986) and the

University of Technology of Compiègne The University of Technology of Compiègne (french: link=no, Université de Technologie de Compiègne, UTC) is a public research university located in Compiègne, France. The university has both the status of public university and grande école. ...

. In 1987 he was made a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

as Baron Chilver, of Cranfield in the County of Bedfordshire, and he was introduced to the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

on 15 July.

Personal life

In 1959 he married Dr Claudia Grigson, the sister of

Christopher Grigson Christopher William Baisely "Grig" Grigson (1 December 1926 – 19 February 2001) was a British naval architect and electronic engineering, electronics engineer who is credited with the invention of scanning electron diffraction. Early life and ed ...

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)

References

Bibliography