Beaver, Hugh, Sir, 1890-1967

Sir Hugh Eyre Campbell Beaver was born in Johannesburg in 1890. He was educated at Wellington College, after which he spent two years in the Indian Police force before joining Alexander Gibb and Partners, Engineers. In 1931 the firm was commissioned by the Canadian government to conduct a survey of its national ports. Sir Hugh spent seven months in Canada, during which time he was asked to supervise the rebuilding of the Port of St John in New Brunswick, which had been destroyed by fire. He was a partner of the firm, 1932-1942, and Director General and Controller General of the Ministry of Works,1940-1945. In 1946, he became a managing director of Arthur Guinness, Son and Co Ltd and stayed there until he retired in 1960. He was much involved in the efforts to rebuild the country and the Empire after World War II, and was a co-opted member of Lord Reith's Committee on New Towns 1946-1947, a member of the Building Industry Working Party 1948-1950, Director of the Colonial Development Corporation 1951-1960, and the chairman of the Committee on Power Station Construction 1952-1953. Sir Hugh Beaver was also interested in the promotion and application of science, and was chairman of the committee on Air Pollution 1953-1954, chairman of the Advisory Council on Scientific and Industrial Research 1954-1956, and chairman of the Industrial Fund for the Advancement of Scientific Education in Schools 1958-1963. He was knighted in 1943 and awarded a KBE in 1956. He also received honorary degrees from the University of Cambridge, Trinity College Dublin, and the National University of Ireland, and was made an honorary fellow of the London School of Economics in 1960. He died in 1967.