Sir David William Hardy (14 July 1930 – 9 April 2020) was a British businessman.

Early life

David William Hardy was born on 14 July 1930, the son of Brigadier John Hardy MC, an officer in the King's Own Royal Regiment, who commanded the Nile Valley during the Second World War. He was educated at Wellington College, which "he greatly disliked", and qualified as a chartered accountant with Hodgson Morris in Liverpool, before completing his

national service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

in Germany with the

Royal Horse Artillery The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) was formed in 1793 as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery (commonly termed Royal Artillery) to provide horse artillery support to the cavalry units of the British Army. Although the cavalry link rem ...

Career

Hardy was chairman of the

Docklands Light Railway The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is an automated medium-capacity rail system, light metro system primarily serving the redeveloped London Docklands, Docklands area of London and providing a direct connection between London's two major financi ...

(DLR) from 1984 to 1987, and then chairman of the

London Docklands Development Corporation The London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) was a quango agency set up by the UK Government in 1981 to regenerate the depressed Docklands area of east London. During its seventeen-year existence, it was responsible for regenerating an ...

from 1987 to 1992. He once had a DLR train reversed in order to pick up the Queen. He was chairman of the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unit ...

from 1995 to 2005. He was knighted in the

1992 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in the Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published ...

, for his role as chairman of the London Docklands Development Corporation.

Personal life

In 1957, he married Rosemary Collins, daughter of Sir

Godfrey Collins Sir Godfrey Pattison Collins, (26 June 1875 – 13 October 1936) was a Scottish Liberal Party (and later National Liberal Party) politician. He entered the Royal Navy in 1888 and was a midshipman, East Indian Station from 1890 to 1893. He wa ...

, who had been chief secretary to the government of Bombay. They had a son and daughter together.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardy, David 1930 births 2020 deaths Knights Bachelor 20th-century English businesspeople Businesspeople awarded knighthoods People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire