Conrad Hugo Penny (born 31 May 1951) is a South African property broker and property valuer who has worked for Penny Brothers Brokers & Valuers for over fifty years. He is the founder and chair of Penny Holdings (Pty) Ltd. and the Managing Director of Penny Brothers Brokers & Valuers (Pty) Ltd. He is also an appraiser to the South African Minister of Justice.

Family and early life

Conrad Penny was born on 31 May 1951 in

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, the son of Errol Penny and Nina Hartdegen, Grandson of Magnus Penny (a descendant of the Penny's of

Marchwood Marchwood is a village and civil parish located in Hampshire, England. It lies between Totton and Hythe on the western shore of Southampton Water and directly east of the New Forest. The population of the village in the 2011 census was 6, ...

, whose earlier forebears are believed to stem from Thomas Penne, a substantial landowner in the area from the 1100s)"The History and Antiquities of the County of Dorset" by John Hutchins (1861) and Elizabeth le Sueur, Great-Grandson of

Herbert Penny Herbert Penny was a well known Cape Town Auctioneer, Estate and Financial Agent, who was instrumental in the creation of the South African Division of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserves, the precursor to the present day South African Navy. Fam ...

(founder of the

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Roya ...

in the Cape which ultimately led to the formation of the

South African Navy The South African Navy (SA Navy) is the naval warfare branch of the South African National Defence Force. The Navy is primarily engaged in maintaining a conventional military deterrent, participating in counter-piracy operations, fishery prote ...

) and Carlotta Forssman (daughter of Chevalier Oscar Wilhelm Alric Forssman of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

who was the son of Jonas Samuel Forssman (1783 and 1835), Councillor of the War Cabinet of Sweden. Penny's mother was a granddaughter of Cuninghame Wilson Moore, the older brother of Sir Archibald

Gordon Moore Gordon Earle Moore (January 3, 1929 – March 24, 2023) was an American businessman, engineer, and the co-founder and emeritus chairman of Intel Corporation. He proposed Moore's law which makes the observation that the number of transistors i ...

, KCB, CVO,

Third Sea Lord The post of Controller of the Navy (abbreviated as CofN) was originally created in 1859 when the Surveyor of the Navy's title changed to Controller of the Navy. In 1869 the controller's office was abolished and its duties were assumed by that o ...

. In March 2015 Penny attended the reinterment of King

Richard III of England Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Bosw ...

as a guest of

Leicester University The University of Leicester ( ) is a public research university based in Leicester, England. The main campus is south of the city centre, adjacent to Victoria Park. The university's predecessor, University College, Leicester, gained university ...

and

Leicester Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Martin, Leicester, commonly known as Leicester Cathedral, is a Church of England cathedral in Leicester, England, and the seat of the Bishop of Leicester. One of the city centre's five surviving medieval ch ...

. In addition to Penny's royal ancestry,

Kevin Schürer Kevin Schürer (born 22 June 1957) is a British historian, genealogist and statistician, previously Pro-Vice Chancellor of Research and Enterprise, who teaches at the University of Leicester. He specialises in the historical demography, the hist ...

identified and recognised Penny as a descendant of at least ten other Lords, Knights and soldiers at the 1485

Battle of Bosworth The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field ( ) was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York that extended across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 ...

where

Richard III Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Boswor ...

lost his life. Penny was educated at

St Stithians College St Stithians College (colloquially known as Saints) is a Private school, private Methodist school situated in the suburb of Lyme Park, Gauteng, Lyme Park in the border of Sandton and Randburg in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Founded in ...

(1964–65) and Hyde Park High School (1966–68) in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

. Penny was privately educated "in house" at Penny Brothers between 1970 and 1973 where Town Planner Professor EWN Mallows, Quantity Surveyor and Civil Engineer ACM Tyrrell, Company/Property Lawyer PJP Neall and Company/Tax Account AE Hirsowitz were put at his disposal for his tertiary education. He later passed the valuer's exam set by The South African Council for the Property Valuers Profession. Penny married Baroness Maria-Therésia Kotz von Dobrz in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

on 7 January 1978 and together they have two sons and two daughters.

Career

In 1996 Penny's company, Penny Brothers Brokers & Valuers (Pty) Ltd., was awarded tenders for the valuation of the whole of

Soweto Soweto () is a Township (South Africa), township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western T ...

, in

, which valuation included over 325 000 dwellings. The tenders were awarded by the

City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality () is a metropolitan municipality that manages the local governance of Johannesburg, the largest city in South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in order to expedite se ...

for taxing and rating purposes. This was the single largest valuation ever undertaken in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. Penny is a member of the Institute of Estate Agents of South Africa, a member of the South African Institute of Valuers, appraiser to the Hon. South African Minister of Justice and is registered as a professional valuer with the South African Council for the Property Valuers. Given his interest in anthropology and paleontology, he is also a member of the

Royal Society of South Africa The Royal Society of South Africa is a learned society composed of eminent South African scientists and academics. The society was granted its royal charter by King Edward VII in 1908, nearly a century after Capetonians first began to conceive of ...

. Penny is the owner of Chartwell Castle in north western

, where he laid out the largest permanent hedgerow

Maze A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lead ...

in the Southern Hemisphere.

Philanthropy and civic work

Trees - Penny has also propagated approximately 7000 trees at Chartwell Castl

which have been donated to the streets, pavements, parks, schools and Places of Worship and Refuge mainly within the

. Chartwell Local Area Committee - In around 1988, Penny as Chairman of the Farmall and Farmall Ext. 1 Landowners Association, assisted in the creation of The Greater Chartwell Local Area Committee, in what was then the outlying regions of northern

. The merger of the surrounding areas resulted in a rate based income being viable to afford the region with tarred roads along arterial routes and the provision of municipal water supply. Consequently, the sub-division of land became possible and the region has since been incorporated into the

. Rand Club - In 2016, Conrad Penny initiated the formation of the Rand Club Salvage Consortium (RCSC) which successfully resuscitated the historic (1887)

Rand Club of Johannesburg The Rand Club is a private members' club in Johannesburg, South Africa, founded in October 1887. The current (third) clubhouse was designed by architects Leck & Emley in 1902 and its construction completed in 1904. Cecil John Rhodes helped to se ...

(and its fine Edwardian building) after it had been mothballed because of a decline in membership following a general exodus from the old CBD of Johannesburg.

References

Bibliography

External links

The Penny Brothers Website

Chartwell Castle Website

The South African Council for the Property Valuers Profession Website

The South African Institute of Valuers Website

The Institute of Estate Agents of South Africa Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Penny, Conrad South African businesspeople 1951 births Living people