Peter Denis Hill-Wood (25 February 1936 – 28 December 2018) was a British businessman and a chairman of

Arsenal Football Club 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 (incl ...

Biography

Hill-Wood was born in Kensington,

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, son of Denis Hill-Wood and his wife Mary Smith. His father, three uncles and grandfather all played first-class cricket for Derbyshire County Cricket Club. Peter Hill-Wood attended

Ludgrove School Ludgrove School is an English independent boys preparatory boarding school. Ludgrove was founded in 1892 at Ludgrove Hall in Middlesex by the Old Etonian sportsman Arthur Dunn. Dunn had been employed as a master at Elstree School, which sent b ...

and

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

, where he was a classmate of former Arsenal director Sir Roger Gibbs. He then served in the

Coldstream Guards The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the monarchy; due to this, it often participates in state ceremonia ...

. After leaving the Guards, Hill-Wood entered the banking industry, eventually rising to become a vice-chairman of

Hambros Bank Hambros Bank was a British bank based in London. The Hambros bank was a specialist in Anglo-Scandinavian business with expertise in trade finance and investment banking, and was the sole banker to the Scandinavian kingdoms for many years. The Bank ...

, having previously been in charge of its investment division. After Hill-Wood retired from his post at Hambros, he was a director of Cavenham Ltd and Hellenic and General Trust.

Arsenal chairmanship

He was the third generation of his family to serve as chairman of Arsenal, following his father, Denis Hill-Wood (in office 1962–1982), and his grandfather, Samuel Hill-Wood (1929–1936 and 1946–1949) from Glossop,

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

. Peter Hill-Wood succeeded his father after the latter's death in 1982. He was not in charge of any day-to-day business at the club, which was generally run by

David Dein David Barry Dein (b. 7 September 1943) is a British businessman, known for being a former co-owner and vice-chairman of Arsenal Football Club, and former vice-chairman of the Football Association. Dein was vice-chairman of Arsenal between 198 ...

and a succession of first team managers. Hill-Wood was a colleague of

Chips Keswick Sir John Chippendale "Chips" Lindley Keswick (born 2 February 1940) is a British merchant banker and member of the Keswick family who control Jardine Matheson, founded by William Jardine. He was chairman of Arsenal Football Club from June 2013 ...

– a former Bank of England director – at Hambros and subsequently saw him recruited to the Arsenal board to provide strong

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

contacts at a time when the club were financing their new stadium. Hill-Wood sold much of his family holdings in the club to former vice-chairman

in the 1980s and 1990s and the rest to

Stan Kroenke Enos Stanley Kroenke (; born July 29, 1947) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the owner of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, which is the holding company of Arsenal F.C. of the Premier League and Arsenal W.F.C. of the WSL, the Los ...

. On 14 June 2013 Hill-Wood stepped down and was replaced as chairman by Keswick.

Other

*He played first-class cricket for the Free Foresters Cricket Club in 1960. *He and

were both members of Business for Sterling.

Personal life

He married Sally Andrews in 1971 and had three children.

Health

On 2 December 2012, Arsenal announced Hill-Wood had suffered a heart attack and was recovering in hospital. On 28 December 2018, it was reported that Hill-Wood had died, aged 82.

References

External links

Peter Hill-Wood at Cricket Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hill-Wood, Peter 1936 births 2018 deaths People from Kensington Arsenal F.C. directors and chairmen British bankers English cricketers Coldstream Guards officers Free Foresters cricketers People educated at Ludgrove School People educated at Eton College