The High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire 2013-2014

Sir Stuart Hampson

Sir Stuart and his wife Angela have lived in Bledlow Ridge, near Princes Risborough, for some 20 years.  They have two adult children – Rachel, who lives in Gran Canaria, and Jonathan, who lives in London. 

Sir Stuart’s professional career has been in three parts. 

After a degree in Modern Languages at Oxford he joined the Civil Service, with postings in the Board of Trade, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in Geneva, and the Department of Prices & Consumer Protection.  He served as Private Secretary to a number of Ministers – Roy Hattersley, John Nott and John Biffen.  In ‘Yes, Minister’ terms he was Bernard aspiring to be Sir Humphrey!

In 1982 he abandoned Cabinet secrets and started selling pyjamas at John Lewis – the start of a 25 year career at the UK’s best known employee-owned business.  After appointment to the Board in 1986 he became Chairman of the John Lewis Partnership in 1993, a role he held for 14 years, and he remains a strong advocate of employee ownership and engagement.

Sir Stuart is now non-executive Chairman and First Commissioner of The Crown Estate, which manages the Sovereign’s holdings of commercial property, farmland and the sea-bed out to 12 miles and which returns the revenues from these assets to the Treasury for the benefit of the nation.

Sir Stuart was Chairman of the Royal Society of Arts (1999-2001) and President of the Royal Agricultural Society of England (2006).  He was made a Knight Bachelor for services to retailing in 1998.

As a London commuter for most of his career Sir Stuart sees this High Sheriff year as an opportunity to put something back into the County which has been his home for so long.  As well as continuing his links with Epilepsy Society and Iain Rennie Grove House Hospice Care he looks forward to working with the Buckinghamshire Community Foundation and Milton Keynes Community Foundation to support the many low-profile organisations and voluntary groups which play a vital part in upholding the cohesion of Buckinghamshire society and the High Sheriff’s remit of law and order.

Sir Stuart will frequently be seen in his 1955 Jaguar XK140, in which he and his intrepid navigator Angela have driven several long rallies, including the full length of the American continent – first, from Panama north to Alaska and then from Colombia south to Tierra del Fuego.