Philip Sydney Henman (1899–1986) was a British transport

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

. He is best known today for being the creator of ''The Philip Henman Trust''.

Early life

At age 15, Henman was severely ill and found himself bedridden for a year with a fever and forced to leave his studies at

Caterham School Caterham School is a private co-educational day and boarding school located in Caterham, Surrey and a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference. History Caterham School was founded as the Congregational School in 1811 in Lewi ...

. After two years in the army, he spent a further two years queuing up at the dole office during

The Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank an ...

that followed

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. He then moved to London, where he found work running

lighterage Lightering (also called lighterage) is the process of transferring cargo between vessels of different sizes, usually between a barge (lighter) and a bulker or oil tanker. Lightering is undertaken to reduce a vessel's draft so it can enter port facil ...

on two dilapidated ex-army barges on the River Thames.

The General Lighterage Company

Over the next thirty years Henman used his experience in

logistics Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the Consumption (economics), point of consumption according to the ...

to turn the fledgling ''The General Lighterage Company'', started in 1922, into a public international transport company. It later became in 1957 '' The Transport Development Group'' and then a public limited company (PLC) in 1982 re-registered as the ''Transport Development Group plc''. The company now has over 7,000 employees across Europe. TDG Plc timeline
1922 The General Lighterage Co Ltd. was formed from the lighterage department of the London Cologne Steam Ship Company.
1950 Became a public limited company.
1957 Changed its name to Transport Development Group.
1982 Re-registered as a plc – Transport Development Group plc.
2000 Changed its name to TDG plc.

The Philip Henman Trust

The original aims of the trust, since its inception in 1986, were to continue funding causes supported by Henman during his lifetime but its remit has since changed focus. After ten years the trust's trustees felt a need to restructure and a consultant was brought in to recommend more effective grant making. The trust now spends all its grant expenditure on long-term projects operated by major UK overseas development charities. Henman was well known for his

philanthropy Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

. He took a personal interest in every cause he supported and today there are many memorials to his charity both in Britain and abroad. His list of

Beneficiaries A beneficiary in the broadest sense is a natural person or other legal entity who receives money or other benefits from a benefactor. For example, the beneficiary of a life insurance policy is the person who receives the payment of the amount of ...

and benefactors, contained in a small diary that was discovered after his death, shows the enormous diversity of his interests and it is for this reason that the trust today has little restriction on the nature of the charities it will support. It is still running till to this day.

Other achievements

Henman was also a

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councillor, a

Deputy Lord Lieutenant Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spain, ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, the

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(1971), the vice president and an honorary fellow of the Chartered Institute of Transport, a patron of the

Royal College of Surgeons The Royal College of Surgeons is an ancient college (a form of corporation) established in England to regulate the activity of surgeons. Derivative organisations survive in many present and former members of the Commonwealth. These organisations ...

, and a member of court of the

Worshipful Company of Farmers The Worshipful Company of Farmers is one of the Livery Company, Livery Companies of the City of London. The company became a Livery Company in 1952, with the support of HM King George VI, and was granted a royal charter three years later by H ...

, and he was given an honorary

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

from the

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References

External links