Lord Chorley obituary
Roger Chorley, Lord Chorley, who has died aged 85, took over the chair of the National Trust in 1991 at the most strife-ridden period in its history. He was by profession an accountant but by background and temperament a politician and committee man who could smooth over dissension and get decisions. Hence, perhaps, his appointment at the height of the controversy over whether the National Trust should continue to allow its land to be used for stag hunting.
From the start, he set his face against impetuous decisions. The charity's 1990 annual meeting, said to have been packed by a minority faction, had voted to end stag hunting on National Trust land, but Chorley set up a two-year working party. "This is not a delaying tactic or pussyfooting around," he said. A ban was the emotional response, when what was needed was a study of what the ban would mean to the herd of deer.
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