Peter Proby

Sir Peter Proby, 2nd Baronet, DL (4 December 1911 – 18 April 2002) was an English landowner and bursar of Eton.

Sir Peter Proby, Bt.

Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire
In office
1981–1985
Preceded byPeter Esmé Brassey
Succeeded byMichael Guy Bevan
Personal details
Born4 December 1911
Died18 April 2002(2002-04-18) (aged 90)
Elton Hall
Spouse(s)
Blanche Harrison
(m. after 1944)
Children5
ParentsSir Richard Proby
EducationEton College
Alma materTrinity College, Oxford

Early life

The eldest son of Sir Richard Proby and Betty Monica Murray.[1] He was raised on the 3,700-acre family estate, Elton Hall, near Oundle. Peter was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Oxford.[2]

Career

After graduating from Oxford, he worked for the China trading firm of Jardine Matheson for four years, traveling between company posts on the Yangtze, leaving China in 1938. He enlisted in the Irish Guards upon the outbreak of World War II, spending most of his career in military intelligence interpreting aerial photographs and interrogating captured German airmen.[2]

After the war, Proby qualified as a land agent, and then managed the family estate.[2]

In 1953, Proby was offered the bursarship of Eton. During his tenure there, several new buildings were erected, including Villiers and Farrer houses, and the college chapel was renovated after an infestation of death watch beetle. Proby was noted for his skilled financial management of these projects, and for his enthusiasm for new technology. After retiring from the bursarship in 1971, he returned to the management of Elton and engaged in local affairs.[2]

Proby inherited his father's baronetcy in 1979, and in 1981, after a year as a deputy lieutenant, was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire. He left that office in 1985.[2]

Personal life

On 15 January 1944, he married Blanche Harrison Cripps, daughter of Colonel Henry Harrison Cripps. Together, they were the parents of five children:[2]

  • Sarah Blanche Proby (b. 1945), who married Peter George Mills in 1968.
  • John Granville Proby (1946–1971)
  • Sir William Proby, 3rd Baronet (b. 1949), who married Meredyth Anne Brentnall in 1974.[3]
  • Charlotte Mary Proby (b. 1957), who married Stephen John Hay in 1984.[4]
  • Christine Elisabeth Proby (b. 1957), who married Christopher T. C. Dobbs, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries,[5] in 1983.

Sir Peter died on 18 April 2002.[2]

References

  1. "Sir Peter Proby, 2nd Bt". www.thepeerage.com. The Peerage. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  2. "Sir Peter Proby, Bt". The Telegraph. 26 April 2002. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  3. "Proby, Sir William Henry | WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO". www.ukwhoswho.com. Bloomsbury Publishing plc. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-43621/version/2. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  4. "Charlotte Proby". www.bedales1975.com. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
  5. "Fellows Directory - Society of Antiquaries". www.sal.org.uk. Society of Antiquaries. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
Honorary titles
Preceded by
Peter Esmé Brassey
Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire
1981–1985
Succeeded by
Michael Guy Bevan
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Richard Proby
Baronet
(of Elton Hall)
1979–2002
Succeeded by
William Proby
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