Sir Richard Royle Powell, GCB, KBE, CMG (30 July 1909 – 30 March 2006) was an English

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

. Educated at

Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Sidney Sussex College (referred to informally as "Sidney") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England. The College was founded in 1596 under the terms of the will of Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex (1531–1589), wife ...

, he spent a year as a

research fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a pr ...

at his college before entering the civil service in 1931 as an official in the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

. During the Second World War, he spelt periods in Canada, the United States and Australia. In 1946, he was moved to the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

; with the exception of a period as deputy secretary at the Admiralty from 1948 to 1950, he remained there until 1959; from 1956 to 1959 he was

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day ...

and closely involved in the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

. From 1960 to 1968, he was Permanent Secretary to the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

. He subsequently held a number of directorships in the

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 fr ...

, including the chairmanships of

Albright and Wilson Albright and Wilson was founded in 1856 as a United Kingdom manufacturer of potassium chlorate and white phosphorus for the match industry. For much of its first 100 years of existence, phosphorus-derived chemicals formed the majority of its produ ...

, the Sandoz Group, Wilkinson Match and

Alusuisse Alusuisse was a Swiss industrial group founded as ''Aluminium Industrie Aktien'' in 1898 in Zurich, Switzerland. The organisation was named ''Schweizerische Aluminium AG'' from 1963, ''Alusuisse-Lonza Holding AG'' from 1990, and ''Algroup'' from 19 ...

Ltd; he was president of the

Institute for Fiscal Studies The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) is an economic research institute based in London, United Kingdom, which specialises in UK taxation and public policy. It produces both academic and policy-related findings. The institute's aim is to "a ...

from 1970 to 1978.
Supplement to the London Gazette
', 29 December 1953 (issue 40053), p. 1.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Richard 1909 births 2006 deaths British civil servants Alumni of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Fellows of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George