Christopher Benson (company director)

Sir Christopher John Benson OAM DL (born 20 July 1933) is a British chartered surveyor and company director, formerly chairman of major companies and public bodies and a High Sheriff of Wiltshire.

Sir

Christopher Benson
Born
Christopher John Benson

(1933-07-20) 20 July 1933
Staffordshire, England
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Chartered surveyor and company director
Spouse
Margaret Josephine Bundy
​
​
(m. 1960)​

Benson was born in Staffordshire in 1933,[1] the son of Charles Woodburn Benson, by his marriage to Catherine Clara Bishton. He trained as a chartered surveyor and became a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. He was knighted in 1988.[2] Also in 1988, he became a director of Sun Alliance and in 1993 was elected as its chairman. In 1997, he was appointed by the government to chair its Funding Agency for Schools.[3]

Benson has also served as chairman of MEPC plc, Costain Group, Boots, Albright and Wilson, and the London Docklands Development Corporation. Outside business, he is a vice-president of the Royal Society of Arts, a past High Sheriff of Wiltshire, a past Master of the Company of Watermen and Lightermen and a President of the Coram Foundation. He is an honorary bencher of the Middle Temple, serving on its Scholarship Fund Appeal Committee.[4]

Benson was awarded an honorary Medal of the Order of Australia on 28 January 2020 for service to the bilateral relationship between Australia and the United Kingdom.[5]

Personal life

In 1960, in Salisbury, Benson married Margaret Josephine Bundy,[6] a daughter of Ernest Jefferis Bundy. A justice of the peace, mayor of Salisbury (1969-1970),[7] and a deputy lieutenant of Wiltshire, Jo Benson was awarded the OBE in 1973.[2][8] She died on 1 August 2022.[9]

Notes
  1. “BENSON Christopher J / Bishton /Cannock / 6b 582” in General Index to Births in England and Wales, 1933
  2. ”Benson, Sir Christopher (John)” in Who's Who online, accessed 28 April 2020 (subscription required)
  3. Fran Abrams, Labour berates Quango largesse in The Independent, 25 February 1997, accessed 27 April 2020
  4. Masters of the Bench: Sir Christopher Benson FRICS JP DL at middletemple.org.uk, accessed 27 April 2020
  5. "Order of Australia" (PDF). Gazette. Commonwealth of Australia. 28 January 2020. Retrieved 26 June 2020.
  6. “BENSON Christopher J / BUNDY Josephine M / Salisbury / 7c 1047” in General Index to Marriages in England and Wales, 1960
  7. Elkins, Jordan (2 August 2022). "Former Salisbury mayor Lady Jo Benson OBE has passed away". Salisbury Journal. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  8. London Gazette, 14 February 1997, page 1925 (Commissions signed by the Lord Lieutenant of the County of Wiltshire on 3 February 1997)
  9. "Benson". Register. The Times. No. 73864. London. 17 August 2022. col 4, p. 49.
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