Peter Gadsden

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sir Peter Drury Haggerston Gadsden GBE, AC (28 June 1929 – 4 December 2006) was a Canadian-British chartered engineer and globe-trotting trader. He was the 652nd Lord Mayor of London in 1979-80.

Gadsden was born in Mannville, Alberta, Canada, where his father Basil Claude Gadsden was a missionary priest, accompanied by his wife, Mabel Florence Drury. He was the eldest of their three children. The family returned to England when he was 5, and he grew up in a rectory in Shropshire. He was educated at Rockport School in County Down, The Elms in Worcestershire, and Wrekin College in Shropshire. After National Service, he read geology and mineralogy at Jesus College, Cambridge. He joined Fergusson Wild & Co after graduating, becoming a minerals trader. He set up his own mineral consultancy in the 1960s, and was later managing director of the Australian mining company Murphyores in London, in addition to other business interests.

Gadsden was a member of seven livery companies, including the Clothworkers' Company and World Traders' Company. He was Founder Master of the Worshipful Company of Engineers from 1983-85. He was also Sheriff of the City of London in 1970-71, and an Alderman from 1971 to 1999 (Senior Alderman for the last 3 years). He was invested as a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in 1979, and was Lord Mayor of London in 1979-80. From 1996 until his death, he was chairman of the PPP Healthcare Foundation. He was also a Companion of the Order of Australia. Despite residing in the UK, he retained his Canadian citizenship and passport until his death and worked to further closer ties between the UK and Canada.

Gadsden married Belinda Ann Haggerston, daughter of Captain Sir Carnaby Haggerston, 11th Baronet in 1955; they had four daughters. He adopted the additional surname "Haggerston" in 1973, after his father-in-law's death. He died in Middleton Scriven in Shropshire.