Sir Robin Catford, (11 January 1923 – 27 May 2008) was a British civil servant who served as the

Prime Minister's Appointments Secretary The Prime Minister's Appointments Secretary is a British civil servant who leads the appointment of a various senior public figures on behalf of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, from Regius Professors to Church of England bishops to Lord Li ...

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

and

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...

Early life

Sir Robin attended Hampton Grammar School before reading Agriculture at

St Andrews University (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

and

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

Career

After Cambridge, Sir Robin joined the Sudan Civil Service for nine years. On his return to Britain, he entered industry and worked for

Fisons Fisons plc was a British multinational pharmaceutical, scientific instruments and horticultural chemicals company headquartered in Ipswich, United Kingdom. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Ind ...

. In 1966, he joined the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries as Principal Secretary, eventually becoming under-secretary in 1979. In 1982, Sir Robin was appointed Prime Minister's Appointments Secretary, succeeding Colin Vyvyan Peterson. He was responsible for advising the Prime Minister on Crown appointments. These largely consisted of senior

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

appointments but also included, for instance, the selection of

Ted Hughes Edward James "Ted" Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest wri ...

to succeed

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture, ...

Poet Laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...

. In 1988, Sir Robin helped Margaret Thatcher to write her "

Sermon on the Mound The "Sermon on the Mound" is the name given by the Scottish press to an address made by British prime minister Margaret Thatcher to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland on Saturday, 21 May 1988. This speech, which laid out the relat ...

" speech. He was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in 1990 and a

Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...

in 1993.

Personal life

He married Daphne Georgina Darby in 1948. She died in 2005. Sir Robin and Lady Catford together had three sons and a daughter. His recreations were listed in ''

Who's Who ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biography, biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a gr ...

'' as "Sailing, theatre, travel, arts, avoiding gardening". He was a devout

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

and a member of the

Diocesan Synod In the Anglican Communion, the model of government is the 'Bishop in Synod', meaning that a diocese is governed by a bishop acting with the advice and consent of representatives of the clergy and laity of the diocese. In much of the Communion the b ...

of Chichester.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Catford, Robin 1923 births 2008 deaths English civil servants Companions of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge