| Honorific-Prefix: | The Right Honourable |
| The Lord Chilver | |
| Honorific-Suffix: | Kt. FRS FREng |
| Birthname: | Amos Henry Chilver |
| Birth Date: | 1926 10, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Barking, Essex |
| Nationality: | British |
| Occupation: | Engineer |
| Spouse: | Claudia Grigson (m. 1959) |
| Children: | 2 daughters, 3 sons |
(Amos) Henry Chilver, Baron Chilver Kt. FRS[1] FREng (30 October 1926 – 8 July 2012) was a British engineer and politician.
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,[2] where he gained a BSc in Mechanical Engineering in 1947.[3] He gained a PhD in Civil Engineering in 1951, and a DSc in 1962.[3] 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.[2] [4] Between 1961 and 1969, he was Chadwick Professor of Civil Engineering at University College London.[5] Between 1970 and 1989 he was Vice-Chancellor of Cranfield University.[2]
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.[6] He was the Chairman of the Post Office between 1980 and 1981.[7] In 1983, he succeeded Lord Campbell as Chairman of the Milton Keynes Development Corporation (MKDC).[8] Between 1992 and 1995 he was Chairman of English China Clays,[9] and on 25 February 1993, he was appointed Chairman of RJB Mining.[10] He has also been a director of ICI.[1] [10]
He was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 1977 and the Royal Society[1] in 1982.[2] In 1978 he was made a Knight Bachelor. He held honorary DScs from the University of Leeds (1982),[11] the University of Bristol (1983),[3] the University of Salford,[2] the University of Strathclyde (1986),[12] the University of Buckingham, the University of Bath (1986) and the University of Technology of Compiègne.[2]
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.[13]
In 1959 he married Dr Claudia Grigson, the sister of Christopher Grigson[14] and they had five children: Helen, Sarah, John, Mark and Paul.[2]