Sir William Richard Benyon, Doctor of Laws was a British Conservative Party politician, Berkshire landowner and former High Sheriff.
Background
Benyon was born William Richard Shelley, the eldest son of Vice-Admiral Richard Shelley (1892–1968) and his wife, Eve Alice Gascoyne-Cecil, the daughter of the Right Reverend Lord (Rupert Ernest) William Gascoyne-Cecil, Bishop of Exeter. Benyon"s father, son of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir John Shelley, 9th Baronet, by Marion Emma Benyon, daughter of Richard Fellowes Benyon, changed his name from Shelley to Benyon in 1964 (deed poll) and 1967 (Royal Licence) after inheriting the Englefield estate from his second cousin, Sir Henry Benyon, 1st Baronet, in 1959.
Education
Benyon joined the Royal Navy aged 13 in 1943 and attended Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth.
Career
At least in his political persona, he generally preferred the familiar Bill Benyon form of his name. He was with Courtaulds Limited until 1967. At the 1983 general election he stood instead in the new Milton Keynes, where he was re-elected until he retired at the 1992 general election.
Due to its increased population, the Milton Keynes seat was then divided into two new constituencies: Milton Keynes North East and Milton Keynes South West.
This was the only division of a constituency at the 1992 general election. Benyon never held government office, but was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Paul Channon 1972-1974 when he was Minister for Housing, then was an Opposition whip from 1974 to 1976.
He was chairman of the Peabody Trust, 1992–1998, and of the Ernest Cook Trust from 1992. He lived at Englefield House until the last few years of his life and was a director of the Englefield Charitable Trust.
In May 1993 Benyon was awarded an honorary degree by the Open University as Doctor of the University.
Benyon married Elizabeth Hallifax in 1957.
Achievements
Membership
45th United Kingdom Parliament. 46th United Kingdom Parliament. 47th United Kingdom Parliament.
48th United Kingdom Parliament.
49th United Kingdom Parliament. 50th United Kingdom Parliament]
He retired from the Navy as a Lieutenant in 1956 and became a member of The Castaways" Club soon thereafter.
Benyon joined the Conservative Monday Club prior to 1970, when he was elected as Member of Parliament for Buckingham at the 1970 general election, defeating the incumbent Robert Maxwell, and retained his seat at the next three elections. He served as a member of the University of Reading Council from 1967 to 2002, was a member of Berkshire County Council from 1964 to 1974, a Deputy Lieutenant from 1970, a Berkshire Justice of the Peace 1962-1977, Vice Lord Lieutenant for Berkshire from 1994 (the year he was knighted), and High Sheriff of Berkshire in 1995.
He was a member of Boodle"s, Pratt"s and Beefsteak London clubs.
Connections
Married Elizabeth Hallifax, August 24, 1957. Children: Catherine, Richard, Edward, Mary, Susannah.