University Honours Greenwich Society Luminaries

Richard Baglin

Richard Baglin (HonDUniv)

Honorary Doctor of the University of Greenwich (HonDUniv)

Management and Strategic Consultant

 Richard Baglin, a University of Cambridge graduate and a Greenwich resident, enjoyed a distinguished business career, which he combined with commitment and long service both to the University of Greenwich and to the voluntary sector.

He spent nine years as a member of Court at the University of Greenwich from 2001 to 2010, acting as Chairman of the Audit Committee for more than six of those years. He brought to the Audit Committee independent oversight of risk management, control and governance, as well as a valuable measure of good humour, and his contribution to the effective governance of the university cannot be underestimated.

As a Greenwich resident, Richard Baglin has always keenly supported the university’s presence in the area. He is chairman of the Greenwich Society, a registered charity which aims to make the borough a better place for all who live, work and study there. He is also a former chairman of Greenwich Healthcare NHS Trust, a position which he held for seven years between 1993 and 2000.

As a management and strategic consultant, he advised a range of national and international clients, including Bacon & Woodrow, a major UK insurance company and a leading French bank. Prior to this, he spent a major part of his career, from 1964 to 1992, at Abbey National, becoming Managing Director for New Businesses for the final six years with the company. He was also a member of the Group Board. His earlier roles at Abbey National included HR Manager, Assistant General Manager and General Manager for Retail Operations.

Ursula Bowyer

Ursula Bowyer (HonDDes)

Honorary Doctor of Design (HonDDes)

Architect Member of RIBA

Ursula Bowyer is a Modernist architect whose first work, the Sports Pavilion at the South Bank Exhibition for the 1951 Festival of Britain, received public acclaim. She is also being honoured for campaigning for the preservation and improvement of the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage site.

She and her husband formed BLB Architects in the 1940s together and went on to establish Gordon Bowyer & Partners whose clients included Vidal Sassoon. Later they worked on the Cabinet War Rooms, the National Portrait Gallery and in 1983 on the Royal Naval College in Greenwich when the Navy still occupied the site.

Ursula designed the new porch at the Temple Moor Church of St Luke’s in Eltham and a new platform bridge linking the church and the church hall which was built in 2005.

She has been an active member of local civic group the Greenwich Society since the 1960s, when there were serious threats to the historic town centre, and was Chairman for many years, later becoming its first Life President.  She remains active in many local bodies including the Greenwich Conservation Group and the East Greenwich Management Agency.