Henry Chilver, Baron Chilver

Chilver was born in Barking, Essex, to Amos Henry Chilver and his wife Annie E. Mack. After attending Southend High School for Boys he took up a place at the University of Bristol,[2] where he gained a BSc in Mechanical Engineering in 1947.[3] He gained a PhD in Civil Engineering in 1951, and a DSc in 1962.[3] 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.[2][4] Between 1961 and 1969 he was Chadwick Professor of Civil Engineering at University College London.[5] Between 1970 and 1989 he was Vice-Chancellor of Cranfield University.[2]

In the early 1980s he was Chairman of the Northern Ireland 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.[6] He was the Chairman of the Post Office between 1980 and 1981.[7] In 1983 he succeeded Lord Campbell as Chairman of the Milton Keynes Development Corporation (MKDC).[8] Between 1992 and 1995 he was Chairman of English China Clays,[9] and on 25 February 1993 he was appointed Chairman of RJB Mining.[10] He has also been a director of ICI.[1][10]

He was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1977 and the Royal Society[1] in 1982.[2] In 1978 he was made a Knight Bachelor.[11] He held honorary DScs from the University of Leeds (1982),[12] the University of Bristol (1983),[3] the University of Salford,[2] the University of Strathclyde (1986),[13] the University of Buckingham, the University of Bath (1986) and the University of Technology of Compiègne.[2]

In 1987 he was made a life peer as Baron Chilver, of Cranfield in the County of Bedfordshire,[14] and he was introduced to the House of Lords on 15 July.[15]

In 1959 he married Dr Claudia Grigson, the sister of Christopher Grigson[16] and they had five children: Helen, Sarah, John, Mark and Paul.[2]

• Problems in Engineering Structures with R S Ashby (1958)[2]
• Strength of Materials with J Case (1959)[2]

• University of Ulster – History

• Clapson, Mark (2004). A Social History of Milton Keynes: Middle England/edge City. Routledge. ISBN 0-7146-5524-4.