Peter Gadsden

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Sir Peter Drury Haggerston Gadsden GBE, AC (28 June 1929 – 4 December 2006) was a Canadian born British chartered engineer and globe-trotting trader. He was the 652nd Lord Mayor of London in 1979 and 1980.

[edit] Biography

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. His father had been ordained in Australia, and previously served in the East End of London. 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, where he was head boy. After National Service in the King's Shropshire Light Infantry, he read geology and mineralogy at Jesus College, Cambridge. He joined Fergusson Wild & Co after graduating, becoming a minerals trader and becoming known as "Trader Gadsden". He set up his own mineral consultancy in the 1960s, and became managing director of the Australian mining company Murphyores in London, in addition to other business interests. He was an honorary Fellow of the Institute of Marketing, a chartered engineer, a Fellow of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, a member of the London Metal Exchange, and an underwriter of Lloyd's.

Gadsden was a member of seven livery companies, including the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers and Worshipful Company of World Traders. He was Founder Master of the Worshipful Company of Engineers from 1983-85. He was elected to the Court of Common Council for the ward of Cripplegate Within and Without in 1969, and was Sheriff of the City of London in 1970-71. He became an Alderman for the ward of Farringdon Without in 1971, remaining in that post until 1999: he was Senior Alderman for the last 3 years. He was Lord Mayor of London in 1979-80 at the relatively young age of 50, and invested as a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in 1979. He decided to hold a fireworks display on the River Thames as a climax to the Lord Mayor's Show, which has now become a regular feature of the event.

He was chairman of Private Patients Plan from 1984 to 1996, and then chairman of the PPP Healthcare Foundation until his death. He served as chairman of the Britain-Australia Bicentennial Committee, leading up to the Australian bicentenary in 1988, and became a Companion of the Order of Australia in 1988. 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, eldest daughter and heiress 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.

A biography by Ina Taylor, Thoroughly with Enthusiasm, was published in 2004.