Sir Peter Fenwick Holmes (27 September 1932 – 8 March 2002) was a British businessman who was the chairman of

Shell Transport and Trading Shell plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational petroleum, oil and natural gas, gas company, headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and second ...

from 1985 to 1993 and chairman of the Royal Dutch/Shell Group from 1992 to 1993.

Early life

Holmes was born in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, and lived in Hungary for a time, as his father had a company there, and his mother was American. His grandfather and great grandfather lived in Turkey, where they worked for the Levant consular service. Holmes was educated at

Malvern College Malvern College is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging coeducational boarding school, boarding and day school in Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is a public school (United Kingdom), public school ...

, and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, where he earned a bachelor's degree in history in 1955. While a university student, he served in the

Royal Leicestershire Regiment The Leicestershire Regiment (Royal Leicestershire Regiment after 1946) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, with a history going back to 1688. The regiment saw service for three centuries, in numerous wars and conflicts such as both ...

during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

, where he won the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...

in 1952.

Career

After earning his degree, Holmes spent some time on an expedition to the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

, then he was hired by Shell UK in 1956. He worked during four years before going back to the mountains. He then held positions for Shell in various countries, including Sudan, Libya (when

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (20 October 2011) was a Libyan military officer, revolutionary, politician and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until Killing of Muammar Gaddafi, his assassination by Libyan Anti-Gaddafi ...

came to power), Dubai, Turkey and Nigeria (1977). He was appointed chairman of Shell Transport and Trading Company in 1985. During his tenure, he quickly faced a sharp drop in oil prices from $30 to $10 a barrel. He also had to deal with angry protests against the company because of its presence in South Africa, country overwhelmed by apartheid problems. He came to terms with the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

, and helped fund a training scheme to prepare ANC executives for government.

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

even thanked him when he was released from jail. He became chairman of the committee of managing directors of the Royal Dutch Shell Group in 1992 and stepped off in 1993, leaving the chair to

Cor Herkströter Antonius Johannes Cornelius "Cor" Herkströter (born 21 August 1937) is a former chairman of Royal Dutch Shell. Cor Herkströter was born in Venlo. He studied economics and accountancy at the School of Economics in Rotterdam (now Erasmus Univer ...

Retirement

When Holmes retired in 1993, instead of continuing as a non-executive director in the boards of large corporations, he became president of the Hakluyt Foundation, a new office in charge of providing intelligence for big companies. He thus went back to some adventure, but missed being killed in a light plane crash in Zambia.

Personal life

After graduating in 1955, Holmes made the second ascent, with

Trevor Braham Trevor Hyam Braham (born Hyam Trevor Braham, 22 April 1922 – 2 March 2020) was a British Himalayan explorer and mountaineer, mostly active during the mid-20th century. Early life Braham was born in Calcutta, British India. He spent much of h ...

, of Chau Chau Kang Nilda, from the barren plateau of

Spiti Spiti (pronounced as piti in Bhoti language) is a high-altitude region of the Himalayas, located in the north-eastern part of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The name "Spiti" means "The middle land", i.e. the land between Tib ...

. There were other mountaineering achievements during the two year visit to the

with his wife Judy, who was also a mountaineer. They had three daughters and remained married until 1999. He entered into a second marriage with Mary Snead, an old American friend. He died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

in March 2002 at the age of 69.

Writing

Holmes wrote under the name Peter Fenwick, a truncation of his full name. His publications included ''Mountains and a monastery'' (1958), ''Nigeria, giant of Africa'' (1985), ''Turkey, a timeless bridge'' (1988), ''Türkye'' (1988).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Holmes, Peter 1932 births 2002 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge People educated at Malvern College Shell plc people