{{Short description|652nd Lord Mayor of London (1929–2006)}} {{EngvarB|date=December 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Sir Peter Gadsden | honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GBE|AC|KStJ|JP|DL|FREng|FIMMM}} | image = | alt = | caption = | office = Lord Mayor of London | term_start = 1979 | term_end = 1980 | birth_name = Peter Drury Gadsden | birth_date = 28 June 1929 | birth_place = Mannville, Alberta, Canada | death_date = {{Death date and age|2006|12|04|1929|06|28|df=yes}} | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = | years_active = | known_for = | notable_works = }} '''Sir Peter Drury Haggerston Gadsden''' (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.
==Background== Gadsden was born in Mannville, Alberta, Canada, where his father, Basil Claude Gadsden, was a missionary priest, accompanied by his wife, Mabel Florence ({{nee}} 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.<ref name = TheTimes/> The family returned to England when he was five, and he grew up in a rectory in Shropshire.<ref name = TheTimes/> He was educated at Rockport School in County Down, The Elms School in Herefordshire, and Wrekin College in Shropshire, where he was head boy.<ref name = TheIndependent/> After National Service in the King's Shropshire Light Infantry, he read geology and mineralogy at Jesus College, Cambridge.<ref name = JamesCollege/>
==Career== In 1952, Gadsden joined Fergusson Wild & Co after graduating, becoming a minerals trader, known as "Trader Gadsden".<ref name=JamesCollege>{{cite web | url = http://www.jesus.cam.ac.uk/alumni/publications/Annual%20Report%202007.pdf | title = Jesus College, Cambridge – Annual Report 2007 | accessdate = 20 August 2009 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20110607200759/http://www.jesus.cam.ac.uk/alumni/publications/Annual%20Report%202007.pdf | archivedate = 7 June 2011 }}</ref> 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.<ref name = TheIndependent/> He was an honorary Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing as well as the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, a member of the London Metal Exchange and an underwriter of Lloyd's of London.<ref name = "Who'sWho">{{cite book | editor = Elizabeth Sleeman | title = The International Who's Who 2004 | publisher = Routledge | year = 2004 | page = 577 }}</ref> Gadsden was a member of seven livery companies, including the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers as well as the Worshipful Company of World Traders, and served as founder master of the Worshipful Company of Engineers from 1983 to 1985.<ref name = "Who'sWho"/> Gadsden was elected to the Court of Common Council for the ward of Cripplegate in 1969, and was appointed Sheriff of the City of London in 1970.<ref name=TheIndependent>{{cite news | last = Taylor | first = Ina | title = Obituary – Sir Peter Gadsden | newspaper = The Independent | date = 12 December 2006 | url = http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2067599.ece | accessdate = 12 December 2006 | url-status = dead | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20071001030511/http://news.independent.co.uk/people/obituaries/article2067599.ece | archivedate = 1 October 2007 | df = dmy-all }}</ref> A year later, he became an alderman for the ward of Farringdon Without, remaining in that post until 1999: he was senior alderman for the last three years.<ref name = TheIndependent/>
Gadsden was Lord Mayor of London in 1979–80 at the age of 50 and was invested as a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE).<ref>{{ London Gazette | issue = 47992 |page=13581 | date =30 October 1979 }}</ref> 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.{{cn|date=January 2023}}
He was chairman of Private Patients Plan from 1984 to 1996, and then chairman of the PPP Healthcare Foundation until his death.<ref name = "Who'sWho"/> Gadsden was past-chairman and vice-president of the Britain–Australia Society and served as chairman of the Britain-Australia Bicentennial Committee, leading up to the Australian bicentenary in 1988,<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.aim25.ac.uk/cgi-bin/vcdf/detail?coll_id=8134&inst_id=16&nv1=browse&nv2=sub | title = AIM25 – Britain Australia Bicentennial Committee | accessdate = 20 August 2009 }}</ref> for which he was awarded an honorary Companion of the Order of Australia, that country's highest civilian honour.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/882125 | title = It's An Honour; Australian Government website – Peter Gadsden | accessdate = 30 July 2009 }}</ref>
Despite residing in the United Kingdom, Gadsden retained his Canadian citizenship and passport until his death and worked to further closer ties between both countries.<ref name = TheIndependent/>
==Family== Gadsden married Belinda Ann Haggerston, eldest daughter and heiress of Sir Carnaby Haggerston, 11th Baronet in 1955; they had four daughters.<ref name = TheTimes/> He adopted the additional surname "Haggerston" by Royal Licence in 1973, after his father-in-law's death.<ref name = TheTimes>{{cite news | title = Obituary – Sir Peter Gadsden | newspaper = The Times | date = 14 December 2006 | url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,60-2501990,00.html | archive-url = https://archive.today/20110604093012/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,60-2501990,00.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = 4 June 2011 | accessdate = 14 December 2006 }}</ref> He died of a heart attack in Middleton Scriven in Shropshire aged 77.<ref name = TheIndependent/>
A biography by Ina Taylor, ''Thoroughly with Enthusiasm'', was published in 2004.
==Further reading== *{{cite book | title= Thoroughly With Enthusiasm: The Life of Sir Peter Gadsden| author= Ina Taylor | year=2006| publisher= Ellingham Press}}
==References== {{reflist|2}}
{{s-start}} {{s-hon}} {{s-bef| before = Sir Kenneth Cork }} {{s-ttl| title = Lord Mayor of London | years = 1979–1980 }} {{s-aft| after = Sir Ronald Gardner-Thorpe }} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Gadsden, Peter}} Category:1929 births Category:2006 deaths Category:People educated at Rockport School Category:People educated at Wrekin College Category:Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge Category:20th-century British engineers Category:Honorary companions of the Order of Australia Category:Canadian emigrants to England Category:English justices of the peace Category:Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Category:Sheriffs of the City of London Category:20th-century lord mayors of London Category:20th-century English politicians Category:Masters of the Worshipful Company of Engineers Category:Knights of the Order of St John Category:People from Shropshire Category:King's Shropshire Light Infantry officers Category:Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry officers