Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Teacher thanked as former pupil bags knighthood
Economist says school inspired his career
A former Canterbury schoolboy has been knighted in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for his “outstanding achievements” in international development and charitable work Graham Wrigley was born and bred in the city and attended Simon Langton Boys School from 1974, before securing a place at Cambridge University to study economics and law. He later became a founding partner at Permira and a member of its management board as it grew into one of the world’s leading private equity firms. But he says he owes his career to the school, and especially his economics teacher Ray Jarvis. “It was he who inspired me to pursue economics and get into Cambridge; he was the best teacher I ever had,” he said. Mr Wrigley, 58, left the world of city finance 14 years ago to study development economics and now dedicates his professional life to organisations focused on increasing oppor
tunities for poor communities and the businesses that work to serve them.
He first became involved with the sector during what would become a life-changing gap year visit to India and Nepal in 1981, at the age of 19. Motivated by the scale of the poverty and the depth of the need, he resolved to dedicate his skills to help.
Then a chance meeting with Sir Edmund Hillary during the same visit led him to become a co-founder of the Sir Edmund Hillary Himalayan Trust UK in 1988
He remains an active ambassador, supporting its work in emergency relief, health and education programmes in Nepal. The charity has helped build new classrooms and trained more than 750 teachers in the most remote corners of the country, improving the learning outcomes of more than 20,000 children over the past decade. He is now also chairman of the Colonial Development Corporation, which has been helping support developing countries since 1948.
Its chief executive, Nick O’donohoe, says the honour is well-deserved.
“No one who has met Graham could fail to be motivated by his infectious passion and determination to making a real and tangible difference to people’s lives in very practical and sustainable ways,” he added.
The citation refers to Mr Wrigley’s outstanding achievements in the field of international development.
Now living in Surrey, he often returns to Canterbury to visit his mother.
He says he is deeply honoured and humbled to receive the award.
“I have been privileged to work with so many dedicated and brilliant colleagues and partners all over the world during the last 30 years, and this honour is a recognition of not just my work, but of the hard work and achievements of all those I have collaborated with,” he said. “These are very hard times, but I truly believe that institutions like CDC, and the great people that work in them, can overcome the challenges we all face.”
Langton Boys’ head Ken Moffat says the school - which now has seven knights among its alumni - is delighted for Mr Wrigley.
“Given our own charity work in northern Uganda it is fitting that he should be rewarded for so many years of promoting sustainability in developing nations,” he added.
‘It was he who inspired me to pursue economics and get into Cambridge; he was the best teacher I ever had’