Gerald Adrian Sallis Benney

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(21 April 1930 – 26 June 2008) was a British silver and goldsmith who along with

David Mellor David John Mellor (born 12 March 1949) is a British broadcaster, barrister, and former politician. As a member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet of Prime Minister John Major as Chief Secretary to the Treasury (1990–92) and ...

and Robert Welch popularised stainless steel designs in post-war British homes. Like Mellor and Welch he was influenced by modern Scandinavian design and in particular

Georg Jensen Georg Arthur Jensen (31 August 1866 in Rådvad – 2 October 1935 in Copenhagen) was a Danish silversmith and founder of Georg Jensen A/S (also known as Georg Jensen Sølvsmedie). Early life Born in 1866, Jensen was the son of a knife g ...

. He was born in Hull and was the first British craftsperson to ever hold four Royal Warrants at the same time. The modern Scandinavian style Gerald developed was taught to him by Berger Bergensen. Among his works are the altar plate for Coventry Cathedral and maces for five English universities, and three in Australia (

University of New England University of New England may refer to: * University of New England (Australia), in New South Wales, with about 18,000 students * University of New England (United States), in Biddeford, Maine, with about 3,000 students See also *New England Colle ...

(1956); University of Newcastle (1966); and

Flinders University Flinders University is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across 11 locations in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Founded in 1966, it was named in honour of British navigator ...

(1969)). The

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and ...

has a number of his pieces in its collection. He was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the

1995 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1995 were appointments by most of the sixteen Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other c ...

, "for services to art". His son

Simon Benney Simon Benney (1 January 1966) is an English designer and maker of jewellery and objets d'art. The holder of two Royal Warrants, for HM The Queen and HRH The Prince of Wales, he has personally undertaken commissions for the British Royal Famil ...

(born 1 January 1966) now runs the business and is also now recognised himself as one of the leading designers in the world; he has also held four Royal Warrants simultaneously.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benney, Gerald 1930 births 2008 deaths British goldsmiths English silversmiths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire