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Retirement of the Clerk to the Company, Colonel Peter Gardner, OBE.

The Cutlers’ Company has appointed Colonel George Kilburn, MBE to succeed Colonel Peter Gardner, OBE as Clerk to the Company. A seamless transition is well underway at the Cutlers’ Company and this month Colonel George Kilburn MBE, formally takes on the role of Clerk to the Company from Colonel Peter Gardner, OBE, who retires after more than 16 years.  Colonel Kilburn has spent the past two months ‘shadowing’ Colonel Gardner and will be handed the badge of office on July 12.

Coincidentally, the two have known each other for 30 years, having both served in the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment (West Riding) - and shared an office on a previous occasion – in Gibraltar.

“I am delighted that George was selected, knowing each other as we do has made the handover so much easier,” said Colonel Gardner, who has been made Clerk Emeritus by the Cutlers’ Company in recognition of his long and valued service.

Although he served a full career in the Army, when he first joined up Colonel Kilburn intended to stay for just three years. “I thought I would then go into the family construction firm in Batley, West Yorkshire but things changed and when my father died I stayed where I was.”

As a man with an aptitude for languages, he was always destined to work abroad and spent his last three years in the army based in Paris and the two years before that with the UN. “The place I enjoyed working most was Africa. It is such a fragmented continent that you can achieve more with less.

“But I have chosen to work in Sheffield over Paris and New York.  There are many reasons for that but now I am here I realize what a wonderful part of the world this is.  I have enjoyed my career so far and I am finding that I have dealt with most aspects of this new role in some form in my previous existence but the variety andquantity of work will be challenging”

GEORGE A KILBURN

Email: george.kilburn@cutlers-hallamshire.org.uk

BACKGROUND

Colonel George Kilburn was born in Dewsbury and educated at Trent College, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and the École Superiéure de Guerre (French Staff College). During his thirty-five years military service he has commanded various units including 3rd Battalion The Duke of Wellington’s Regiment (West Riding) in Sheffield in 1998-1999.  He has also held staff appointments at every level from the tactical to the grand strategic. He has served in more than 19 countries and with international organizations including NATO, the UN, the EU and the AU. 

In his recent appointments, he was part of the UN force in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2000-2001 and dealt with operations in NATO HQ in Brussels from 2001-2004. This was followed by an operational tour as sector commander with the UN force in Georgia. From 2005-2006 he was with the UN in New York, responsible for military resources for the mission in Congo. 

His last post in the Army was in Paris as the UK operational Liaison Officer and the Deputy Director of EURORECAMP/AMANI AFRICA (an EU initiative to develop the capacity within the AU to deploy its own 5,000man standby force). 

He was awarded the MBE in 1990 and the NATO Meritorious Service Medal in 2003. 

PERSONAL

George has been married to Penny for 31 years. They have four children; all of whom have graduated from university.

His hobbies include reading, fishing, cooking and wine. He enjoys most sports but mainly as a spectator these days.  He has tried golf but is not gifted.