Champness , Sir , William Henry , 1873-1956 , knight , solicitor

Major Sir William Henry Champness was born in March 1873, the son of William John Champness. He married Elizabeth Butler in 1896 and had one son. Elizabeth died in 1939 and Champness married widow Ethel Harding in 1946. He lived at Knole Way, Sevenoaks, Kent. Champness was a solicitor who was involved in several City of London institutions. He was a Master of the Spectalemakers' Company and the Plumbers' Company; President of the City Livery Club; a governor of Bridewell and Bethlem Hospitals and the City and Guilds Institute; Chairman of various City Corporation Committees; a Sheriff of the City of London, 1937-38; one of the Lieutenants of the City from 1917; and an Alderman's Deputy from 1931. He was knighted in 1938. Champness conducted antiquarian research in his spare time and published histories of the Spectablemakers' Company and Plumbers' Company. He died in October 1956.

Biographical information from 'CHAMPNESS, Major Sir William Henry', Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920-2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U235642, accessed 1 June 2011].