Sir Peter Brian Baxendell (born 28 February 1925) is a British retired oilman who worked for

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

from 1946 to 1985. From 1979 to 1985 Baxendell was the chairman of Shell Transport and Trading, and from 1982 to 1985 he was the chairman of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group. Baxendell was born on 28 February 1925 in Runcorn, Cheshire to

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

parents Leslie Wilfred Edward Baxendell (1892–1968) and Evelyn Mary Gaskin (1895–1992). He was educated at St Francis Xavier's College in Liverpool, and the

Royal School of Mines The Royal School of Mines comprises the departments of Earth Science and Engineering, and Materials at Imperial College London. The Centre for Advanced Structural Ceramics and parts of the London Centre for Nanotechnology and Department of Bioe ...

in London. Baxendell joined Shell in 1946 as a petroleum engineer. In 1947 he was posted to Egypt, and in 1950 to Venezuela. In 1963 he became the technical director of Shell-BP Nigeria, and in 1966 returned to London where he became the head of the Shell's Southeast Asia Division. He was made the managing director of Shell-BP Nigeria in 1969. In 1973 he was appointed a managing director of Shell UK, which placed him on the Royal Dutch/Shell Group Committee of Managing Directors. The following year he became chairman of Shell UK. In 1979 he was elected chairman of Shell Transport and Trading, and in 1982 became chairman of the Committee of Managing Directors. He was also chairman of

Hawker Siddeley Hawker Siddeley was a group of British manufacturing companies engaged in list of aircraft manufacturers, aircraft production. Hawker Siddeley combined the legacies of several British aircraft manufacturers, emerging through a series of mergers ...

and was a director of Sun Life and

Inchcape Inchcape or the Bell Rock is a reef about off the east coast of Angus, Scotland, near Dundee and Fife, occupied by the Bell Rock Lighthouse. The name ''Inchcape'' comes from the Scottish Gaelic ''Innis Sgeap'', meaning "beehive isle", probabl ...

. Baxendell retired on 1 July 1985 at age 60. He was knighted in 1981. In 1949, Baxendell married Rosemary Lacey. They had four children: Anne, Gillian, Peter, and John. Lady Baxendell died on 8 June 2021 at age 95.

External links

References

1925 births Living people People from Runcorn British business executives Shell plc people English businesspeople British Roman Catholics Fellows_of_the_Royal_Academy_of_Engineering {{UK-business-bio-1920s-stub