In 1985, when David Berriman became a “name” — a private investor — at the Lloyd’s of London insurance market, he was entitled to believe that recent legislation had laid to rest its controversial past. But a dozen years later he was thrust to the forefront of what he described as “a battle for the soul of Lloyd’s”.
A tall, diffident figure, he was engulfed along with thousands of other names by losses from asbestos, pollution and disasters such as the Piper Alpha North Sea oil rig. Many names lost their homes and other assets, and Berriman had to downsize to a smaller house. Angered by what he saw as a lack of professionalism in the market, he was elected chairman of two action groups and then headed the Association of Lloyd’s Members.
“It was clear there was not enough business to satisfy the demand created by the increasing numbers of Lloyd’s members,” Berriman said. He became involved in negotiating the landmark Reconstruction and Renewal (R&R) plan, which rescued many names from penury, but in return they had to waive their rights to sue Lloyd’s. Not every name thought it an attractive exchange, particularly those abroad, so Berriman had to go to the US and France to win over the unwilling. All liabilities from 1992 and before went into Equitas, a specially created £3.2 billion company. A 2014 book on the crisis, On the Brink by Andrew Duguid, said that if there had been medals for those who had helped to sort out Lloyd’s, Berriman deserved the George Cross.
The wrangling did not end there, though. Some names refused to accept their settlements, leading to prolonged litigation, and there were growing doubts about whether the Equitas endowment was sufficient. Berriman urged his members to stand firm against what he condemned as an “aggressive campaign” by the Lloyd’s chief executive, Ron Sandler, to drive out names in favour of corporate investors, insisting: “A streamlined and modernised market, stripped of its anachronistic historical trappings, with properly resourced underwriting units, is required.” The fight was still going when Berriman stepped down in 1998, aged 70, but the names’ numbers continued to shrink. Only a few hundred are believed to be active today.
For the previous 30 years, Berriman had also been associated with a cause close to his heart. His elder son, James, has Down’s syndrome. Another similarly placed father, Kenneth Newton Wright, had formed the charity MacIntyre, named after his maternal grandmother’s clan, to support children with learning disabilities. In 1970, Berriman persuaded his employer, the City merchant bank Morgan Grenfell, to make an interest-free loan to buy MacIntyre’s first school, Westoning in Bedfordshire. James was one of the first pupils. It now helps 1,500 children and adults, employing 2,000 people at several locations in England and Wales. A £14 million sister charity, MacIntyre Academies, educates 300 autistic children. Berriman chaired MacIntyre from 1977 to 1992, followed by his younger son, John, from 2004 to 2024.
“I was very struck with the concept of helping people lead ‘gloriously ordinary lives’,” Berriman said. “Ken Newton Wright and I were both determined that these children and adults would be able to live a life with purpose, a world away from the opportunities available to people with learning disabilities in the late 1960s.”
David Berriman was born in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, in 1928, the only child of Algernon Berriman, a former Flight Magazine editor and chief engineer for Daimler, and Enid (née Sutcliffe). When David was seven the family moved to Oxford, where he joined the Scouts and played tennis with his mother and other family members. He was sent to boarding school at Highfield prep in Hampshire and then Winchester College.
At 18 he did National Service with the Royal Corps of Signals in Egypt. A non-smoker, he used to trade his cigarette allowance, played tennis and rode horses. His duties included catching locals stealing copper cables. At New College, Oxford, he studied engineering in his first year, but after passing honour moderations in natural science, he decided he was better suited to a business career and switched to economics and political science. He played tennis for the university and for his county.
His first job was withFirst National City Bank of New York (now Citigroup), in Asia. While in the bank’s London office he met Margaret Owen, who was training as a speech therapist at the Central School of Speech and Drama. They married in 1955 and divorced after 14 years. Margaret died of cancer in 1995. They had two sons: James; and John, who became chief operating officer at the accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and treasurer of Chatham House.
In 1971, Berriman married Shirley Hicks (née Wright), who ran a fashion business. After Shirley died of cancer in 1993, aged 60, he met the recently widowed Patricia Salter (née Walker). They married in 1995 and she too died of cancer, in 2013. The following year he married Caryl Ayscough (née Spinks), who supported him in his later years. “He dreaded living alone,” John said. “I had a very happy childhood playing tennis and golf, and swimming. Dad and Shirley bought a small serviced flat in Le Touquet, exchanging it later for a condominium in Duquesa, near Gibraltar.”
Berriman became an executive manager with Ford of Europe. After a year at Harvard Business School he returned to Britain to become financial planning manager at the electrical appliance maker AEI Hotpoint. In 1963 he moved to United Leasing Corporation, which was bought by Morgan Grenfell. The bank’s chairman, Lord Catto, asked him to handle the bank’s fledgling film finance operation, but he realised scope for promotion was limited so in 1973 moved to a smaller bank, Guinness Mahon, which was also interested in film. He was encouraged to join industry bodies, including the government’s Interim Action Committee for the film industry, the British Screen Advisory Council, British Screen Finance, the National Screen Development Fund and the National Film and Television School, alongside the film producer Lord Puttnam.
Those connections led to Berriman forming and chairing Satellite Television, the first pan-European satellite television company, which later became part of Sky Television. From 1975 he was a non-executive director of Cable and Wireless, one of Margaret Thatcher’s first privatisations six years later.
Building on his work for Macintyre Care, in 1981 he was headhunted by the government to be the chairman of Lewisham and North Southwark District Health Authority, including Guy’s Hospital. After three years he moved across the river to chair North East Thames Regional Health Authority, then handling a tenth of England’s NHS budget. From 1990 he was a trustee of the Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust where he supervised the country’s residential homes for people with dementia. He was knighted for contributions to health in 1990.
He was a member of the All England Club and the International Tennis Club. A low-handicap golfer, he belonged to the Wildernesse Club in Sevenoaks, Royal St George’s, Sandwich, and the Duquesa and Valderrama clubs in Spain. Throughout his life he enjoyed sport, reading, particularly historical and political biographies, playing bridge, sudoku and similar puzzles, classical music and opera. Curiously enough, watching television — satellite or otherwise — was not listed among his interests in Who’s Who.
Sir David Berriman, businessman and philanthropist, was born on May 20, 1928. He died of old age on March 13, 2025, aged 96
