Peter Proby Explained

Sir Peter Proby, Bt.
Honorific Suffix:KStJ DL
Office:Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire
Term Start:1981
Term End:1985
Predecessor:Peter Esmé Brassey
Successor:Michael Guy Bevan
Birth Date:4 December 1911
Death Place:Elton Hall
Education:Eton College
Alma Mater:Trinity College, Oxford
Parents:Sir Richard Proby
Children:5

Sir Peter Proby, 2nd Baronet, KStJ DL (4 December 1911 – 18 April 2002) was an English landowner and bursar of Eton.

Early life

The eldest son of Sir Richard Proby and Betty Monica Murray.[1] He was raised on the 3,700-acre family estate, Elton Hall, near Oundle. Peter was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Oxford.

Career

After graduating from Oxford, he worked for the China trading firm of Jardine Matheson for four years, traveling between company posts on the Yangtze, leaving China in 1938. He enlisted in the Irish Guards upon the outbreak of World War II, spending most of his career in military intelligence interpreting aerial photographs and interrogating captured German airmen.

After the war, Proby qualified as a land agent, and then managed the family estate.

In 1953, Proby was offered the bursarship of Eton. During his tenure there, several new buildings were erected, including Villiers and Farrer houses, and the college chapel was renovated after an infestation of death watch beetle. Proby was noted for his skilled financial management of these projects, and for his enthusiasm for new technology. After retiring from the bursarship in 1971, he returned to the management of Elton and engaged in local affairs.

Proby inherited his father's baronetcy in 1979, and in 1981, after a year as a deputy lieutenant, was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire. He left that office in 1985.

Personal life

On 15 January 1944, he married Blanche Harrison Cripps, daughter of Colonel Henry Harrison Cripps. Together, they were the parents of five children:

Sir Peter died on 18 April 2002.[5]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Sir Peter Proby, 2nd Bt. . thepeerage.com . . 2 April 2019.
  2. Web site: Proby, Sir William Henry WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO . ukwhoswho.com . Bloomsbury Publishing plc . 2 April 2019 . en . 10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U43621. 978-0-19-954088-4 .
  3. Web site: Charlotte Proby . bedales1975.com . 2 April 2019.
  4. Web site: Fellows Directory - Society of Antiquaries . sal.org.uk . . 2 April 2019.
  5. News: Sir Peter Proby, Bt . 2 April 2019 . . 26 April 2002.