Richard Wilson was born in
Glamorgan. He was educated at
Radley College (1956–60 and where he much later chaired the College Council (the governing body)) and
Clare College, Cambridge (1961–65), where he was awarded the degree of
Master of Laws (LLM). He was called to the Bar but, rather than practise, entered the Civil Service as an assistant principal in the
Board of Trade in 1966. He subsequently served in a number of departments including 12 years in the
Department of Energy where his responsibilities included
nuclear power policy, the privatisation of
Britoil, personnel and finance. He headed the Economic Secretariat in the
Cabinet Office under
Margaret Thatcher from 1987 to 1990 and after two years in the
Treasury was appointed Permanent Secretary of the
Department of the Environment in 1992. He became
Permanent Under-Secretary of State at the Home Office in 1994 and
Secretary of the Cabinet and Head of the Home Civil Service in January 1998, retiring in 2002. Wilson was appointed a
Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in the
1991 New Year Honours, promoted to
Knight Commander (KCB) in the
1997 New Year Honours and to
Knight Grand Cross (GCB) in the
2001 New Year Honours. After retiring as
Cabinet Secretary, he was created a
life peer on 18 November 2002 with the title
Baron Wilson of Dinton,
of Dinton in the County of Buckinghamshire. In September of that year, he was made
Master of
Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He has variously been a Non-executive Director of
British Sky Broadcasting Group plc, Chairman of
C. Hoare & Co, a Non-executive Director of
Xansa and Chair of the Board of Patrons of
The Wilberforce Society. ==References==