City figures honoured for quiet leadership and public service

Two senior figures from the City of London Corporation have been recognised in the King’s New Year Honours, with awards reflecting decades of public service carried out largely away from the spotlight. The City of London New Year Honours include an OBE for Giles Shilson and an MBE for Peter Dunphy, both elected members with long records of civic leadership.

Giles Shilson, former chair of the City Bridge Foundation, has been awarded an OBE for services to outreach, inclusion and charity. He led London’s largest independent charitable funder from 2021 to 2024, guiding the 900-year-old institution through the post-pandemic period and overseeing a major overhaul of its governance.

Under his chairmanship, the Foundation brought together its responsibilities as owner of five historic Thames crossings with its role as a grant-maker supporting communities across the capital. The changes included a new governance model and a clearer public identity for an organisation whose annual funding reaches thousands of Londoners.

Alongside this role, Dr Shilson also served as chair of the Barbican Centre Board and as chair of governors of the City of London School, where he became a prominent advocate for inclusion, particularly for neurodivergent people.

“I am delighted to receive this honour, and grateful to have had the opportunity to carry out public service in the City of London over the past two decades,” he said. “This award reflects the tremendous impact of the City Bridge Foundation’s work, both as trusted owner of the City’s bridges and as London’s largest independent funder.”

He added that recent reforms had given the organisation “a renewed sense of purpose”, describing it as a privilege to work with colleagues whose efforts had “a huge impact on so many thousands of lives”.

Peter Dunphy, currently chair of the City Corporation’s Port Health and Environmental Services Committee, has received an MBE for services to amenity conservation and volunteering. His work has often focused on safeguarding the character of the Square Mile while supporting its changing social and economic life.

Among his achievements was helping secure asset of community value status for several City venues, including The Tipperary on Fleet Street, widely regarded as London’s oldest Irish pub. The designation helped protect the building’s future as a public house during a period of intense commercial pressure.

As former chair of the City Corporation’s licensing committee, Mr Dunphy oversaw the expansion of the City’s night-time economy to its largest ever scale, without a single licensing appeal. During that period, he also introduced new safety policies and helped establish the night-time levy used to fund additional policing and street cleaning.

He later served as Chief Commoner, one of the City Corporation’s oldest civic offices, dating back to the fifteenth century, where he initiated a new members’ code of conduct. Beyond the Square Mile, he spent more than a decade as a trustee of The Honourable The Irish Society, a grant-giving body supporting cross-community projects in and around County Londonderry.

“I was very pleased when I opened the envelope,” Mr Dunphy said. “I know my entire family will also be delighted I’ve been acknowledged in this way.”

Reflecting on the pandemic years, he added: “I’m particularly proud that, as chair of the licensing committee and deputy governor of The Honourable The Irish Society, I was able to support numerous businesses through Covid which, without that support, probably wouldn’t be here today.”

Together, the awards highlight a strand of City life that often operates below the radar: long-term civic service shaped less by headline-grabbing policy than by steady stewardship of institutions that underpin London’s cultural, charitable and commercial fabric.

For more independent reporting on the City of London, its institutions and the people who shape civic life, follow EyeOnLondon City for thoughtful, well-reported coverage. We welcome your views in the comments.

[Image Credit | City Bridge Foundation]

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