Sunley was born on 4 November 1910, in
Catford. He was the son of John Sunley, a florist and fruiterer, and was educated at St Ann's School in
Hanwell in
Ealing. After leaving school at the age of fourteen, he hired a horse and cart to move earth, and then went into the landscape gardening business. One of his first major contracts was re-laying the pitch at Highbury for
Arsenal FC. They had two daughters and a son. From earth-moving, Sunley moved into the open-cast mining business. In 1940, he founded
Bernard Sunley & Sons. He subsequently "ranked alongside the most successful property developers of the 1950s property boom". Sunley campaigned as a Conservative Party candidate for
Ealing West in 1945, but was unsuccessful. Sunley established the Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation in 1960 with a pledge of £300,000 worth of shares. As of 2011, it had made grants of more than £92 million. His grandson is
Richard Tice, a businessman and deputy leader of
Reform UK. Bernard Sunley Hall, named after him, is a
hall of residence for
Imperial College London students at 40–44
Evelyn Gardens. ==See also==