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, where he gained a BSc in Mechanical Engineering in 1947. He gained a PhD in Civil Engineering in 1951, and a DSc in 1962. 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. Between 1961 and 1969, he was Chadwick Professor of Civil Engineering at University College London. Between 1970 and 1989 he was Vice-Chancellor of Cranfield University.

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. He was the Chairman of the Post Office between 1980 and 1981. In 1983, he succeeded Lord Campbell as Chairman of the Milton Keynes Development Corporation (MKDC). Between 1992 and 1995 he was Chairman of English China Clays, and on 25 February 1993, he was appointed Chairman of RJB Mining. He has also been a director of ICI.

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

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

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

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