Sir Robin Danvers Penrose Gillett, 2nd Baronet (9 November 1925 – 21 April 2009), was

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional pow ...

1976–77. He was also Gentleman Usher of the Purple Rod 1985 – 30 November 2000.

Family and education

Born in London on Lord Mayor's Day, as it then was, on 9 November 1925, Robin Gillett was the only child of Captain Sir Harold Gillett, 1st Baronet MC FCA, who was

, 1958–59. He was educated at

Pangbourne Pangbourne is a large village and civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Thames in Berkshire, England. Pangbourne has its own shops, schools, Pangbourne railway station, a railway station on the Great Western main line and a vill ...

1939–43, and Hill Crest School. He married twice: firstly, in 1950, Elizabeth Marion Grace (died 1997), the elder daughter of John Findlay, JP, of Busby House,

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotl ...

. They had two children: Nicholas (born 1955) and Christopher (the singer, born 1958). He married secondly Alwynne Winifred Hay (1931-2021), daughter of James MacDonald Hay, on 8 July 2000. Lady Hay had previously been married to John Lant (div.1954) and Judge Albert Edward Cox (1916-1992).

Naval career

He was an Elder Brother of

Trinity House "Three In One" , formation = , founding_location = Deptford, London, England , status = Royal Charter corporation and registered charity , purpose = Maintenance of lighthouses, buoys and beacons , he ...

and Admiral of the City Livery Yacht Club. Served

Canadian Pacific Steamships CP Ships was a large Canadian shipping company established in the 19th century. From the late 1880s until after World War II, the company was Canada's largest operator of Atlantic and Pacific steamships. Many immigrants travelled on CP ships fr ...

, 1943–60; Master Mariner 1951; Staff Comdr 1957; Hon. Comdr RNR 1971. After the Nautical College he went to sea as a cadet with Canadian Pacific Steamships Ltd with which he served on North Atlantic, Mediterranean and Russian convoys. He remained with Canadian Pacific until after the war obtaining his Master Mariner's Certificate in 1951. In 1950 he joined the

Royal Naval Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...

. From 1953 he served for a year in the Persian Gulf in the frigate doing RNR training and in 1957 became the youngest Staff Commander of the Canadian Pacific flagship the ''Empress of Scotland'', a rank he held until he left the sea in August 1960 having been recruited while serving in the .

Lloyd's and the City

On leaving the sea he joined the

Lloyd's Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gov ...

broking firm of Bevington, Vaizey and Foster and after training commenced as Administration Manager there. In 1965 he was elected to the

Common Council of the City of London The Court of Common Council is the primary decision-making body of the City of London Corporation. It meets nine times per year. Most of its work is carried out by committees. Elections are held at least every four years. It is largely composed o ...

and also as an underwriting member of Lloyd's. He was elected an

Alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members t ...

in 1969 and

Sheriff of the City of London Two sheriffs are elected annually for the City of London by the Liverymen of the City livery companies. Today's sheriffs have only nominal duties, but the historical officeholders had important judicial responsibilities. They have attended the ju ...

for 1973. He was knighted GBE in 1976. On 29 September 1976 he was elected as Lord Mayor of London and on 12 November he entered the Mansion House. Unfortunately his father had died eight days before he was elected. Of the 648 Lord Mayors that preceded him, only six had actually succeeded their fathers in a direct line and not one had succeeded in becoming Lord Mayor during his father's lifetime. There followed a very hectic year at the Mansion House, the crowning event of which was the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. At the end of the mayoralty, Gillett returned to his then home in Knightsbridge and back to his firm after a rest period. He was appointed Gentleman Usher of the Purple Rod of the Order of the British Empire from 1985 to 2000.

Chronology

*Elder Brother of Trinity House *Fellow and Founder Member, Nautical Institute City of London (Ward of Bassishaw): Common Councilman 1965–69 *Alderman 1969–96 *Sheriff 1973 *One of HM Lieutenants for City of London, 1975 *Chairman Civil Defence Committee, 1967–68 *President, City of London Civil Defence Instructors Association, 1967–78 *Vice-president, City of London Centre, St John Ambulance Association *President, National Waterways Transport Association, 1979–83 *Dep. Commonwealth President,

Royal Life Saving Society The Royal Life Saving Society UK is a drowning prevention charity founded in 1891 in the UK. It has had Royal Patronage since 1904. History The Royal Life Saving Society UK is a national charity, founded in 1891 by William Henry, with the aim of ...

, 1981–96 *Chairman Council, Maritime Volunteer Service, 1998–2000, Governor, 2000– *Vice-chairman, PLA, 1979–84 *Master,

Honourable Company of Master Mariners The Honourable Company of Master Mariners is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. While the other Livery Companies are entitled to the style '' Worshipful'', the Master Mariners are styled ''Honourable'', King George V having gran ...

, 1979–80 *Trustee,

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unite ...

, 1982–92 *Chairman of Governors,

Pangbourne College Pangbourne College is a co-educational independent day and boarding school located in the civil parish of Pangbourne, in the English county of Berkshire. It is set in 230 acres, on a hill south-west of the village, in an Area of Outstanding Nat ...

, 1978–92 *Chancellor, City University, 1976–77 *FIAM (Pres., 1980–84; Gold Medal, 1982) *FRCM 1991. Hon. DSc City, 1976. * Gentleman Usher of the Purple Rod, 1985–2000 *Gold Medal, Administrative Management Soc., USA, 1983 * : Commander,

Order of Dannebrog The Order of the Dannebrog ( da, Dannebrogordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry instituted in 1671 by Christian V. Until 1808, membership in the order was limited to fifty members of noble or royal rank, who formed a single class known ...

, 1974 * : Grand Cross of Municipal Merit (Lima), 1977 * :

KStJ 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 ...

1977 (OStJ 1974) * : Officer,

National Order of the Leopard The National Order of the Leopard (french: Ordre national du Léopard) was the highest honorific decoration of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1966 until 2002 when it was discontinued and replaced by the Order of the National Heroes Kabi ...

, Zaire, 1973 Author: ''A Fish out of Water'' 2001. ''Dogwatch Doggerel'' 2004.

Arms

References

* *Who's Who 2008

External links

Photograph

- Daily Telegraph obituary {{DEFAULTSORT:Gillett, Robin 1925 births 2009 deaths People educated at Pangbourne College Associates of the Royal College of Science Sheriffs of the City of London 20th-century lord mayors of London 20th-century English politicians People associated with City, University of London Royal Navy officers 2 Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Knights of the Order of St John Commanders of the Order of the Dannebrog British people of World War II Royal Naval Reserve personnel Members of Trinity House