(BUSINESS ADVISER)
(532)
Born in Leicester on 30 July 1930. Educated at Mill Hill School, Leicester and Blackfriars School, Laxton, Northamptonshire (1942-48) where he obtained his School Certificate and Higher Certificate.
Councillor Kimberlin served in the Intelligence Corps from 1948-1950, during his period of National Service, and spent most of his military service in Trieste.
After demobilisation he worked for the family firm of Kimberlin Brown and Company Limited, Leicester, manufacturers and distributors of Jersey Fashions and Knitted Outwear, for 25 years. From 1978-1983, he was the Accountant at the Leicestershire Aero Club Limited and then became a Business Adviser with the Department of Employment Small Firms Service in 1984. He was a member of the British Institute of Management and a Fellow of the Institute of Business Counsellors.
Councillor Kimberlin was first elected to the Leicester City Council in May 1970 as a Conservative Councillor for the Evington Ward. He represented the Ward continually apart from a break between 1976-1979. He served on many of the Council’s Committees, his main interest being in the realms of Finance, Property and Planning, in addition to which, he was a member of the Estates, Policy and Resources, Public Control Committees and the former City Welfare Committee.
Councillor Kimberlin was a Director of the Leicester Theatre Trust, a Director of the Haymarket Board, a Member of the Court of Leicester University and a Member of the Leicester Promotion campaign.
He was appointed High Bailiff of the City on 19 May 1988 for the year 1988/89.
Councillor Kimberlin was elected to the office of Lord Mayor of the City on 3 May 1990. He was the first son of a Lord Mayor of Leicester to become Lord Mayor, proudly following in the footsteps of his father, Alderman Archibald Henry William Kimberlin OBE, who was Lord Mayor in 1964.
He chose his wife Doreen as his Lady Mayoress. Mrs Kimberlin had been involved with Menphys since 1977 and was a past Chairman of the European Union of Women.
The highlights of Councillor Kimberlin’s Year of Office were the two visits to the City by members of the Royal Family. Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Kent came to Leicester on 25 July 1990. Her Royal Highness visited John Calvert Court at Beaumont Leys and Westcotes House, the Headquarters of the Leicestershire Child and Family Psychiatric service. The Lord Mayor hosted a Civic Reception and Lunch for her at the City Rooms, prior to the official opening of the LOROS Manor Croft Day Centre in Ratcliffe Road. On 30 October 1990, His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester visited the City to unveil the plaque marking the possible burial site of Richard III in Grey Friars and to view the statue of Richard III in Castle Gardens, where he was accompanied by Councillor Kimberlin. His Royal Highness also visited Peat House, the new office development in Waterloo Way and toured Harrison Court, a new residential project for disabled people in Packwood Road.
Links between Leicester and Ireland were maintained when the Lord Mayor visited Kilkenny in November 1990 as part of the annual exchange visit, which was inaugurated in 1985. This was followed by a visit by the Mayor of Kilkenny, Councillor Kieran Crotty to Leicester on 10 April 1991.
Visits to the twin cities of Strasbourg and Krefeld were rather special occasions for the Lord Mayor. In Strasbourg, he signed the formal twinning charter upon the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the link. On one of two visits to Krefeld, Councillor Kimberlin presided over the Flachsmarket, a major craft fair held in the grounds of the Castle at Burg Linn which attracted some 200,000 visitors. During the Mayoral Year, Councillor Kimberlin hosted receptions in Leicester for visitors from both Krefeld and Strasbourg.
A memorable occasion for Councillor Kimberlin took place on 22 June 1990 when in front of a large assembly, in the Council Chamber, he presided over the Conferment of the Freedom of the City upon Sir David Frederick Attenborough and Sir Richard Samuel Attenborough. It was the first Conferment Ceremony to have taken place in Leicester for nineteen years.
In January 1991, the Lord Mayor paid a visit to the 2nd Battalion, the Royal Anglian Regiment based north of Hanover to convey good luck messages to the county soldiers on standby for service in the Gulf.
The Mayoral Year will be remembered for Councillor Kimberlin’s ‘Save for a Laser’ Appeal. The Lord Mayor had himself been seriously ill in January 1990 and underwent emergency surgery at the Leicester Royal Infirmary after suffering a burst aorta. He decided that his Appeal should be for the purchase of sophisticated laser equipment to assist the Leicester Royal Infirmary to treat patients with artery problems. The daunting appeal target was £350,000 and Councillor Kimberlin became known as the City’s first ‘bionic’ Lord Mayor. Such was the support for the Lord Mayor’s Appeal that the target was reached by the end of the Civic Year and, subsequently, reached a total of £553,057.
Councillor Kimberlin’s Year of Office was concluded on 23 May 1991 whereupon he was appointed Deputy Lord Mayor for the year 1991/92.
An Honorary Fellowship of De Montfort University was conferred upon Councillor Kimberlin on 21July 1995.
He died in Leicester on 28 September 1995, aged 65 years.
