Five new Deputy Lieutenants have been appointed for Essex.

East Anglian Daily Times: Colonel (Retd) Roger Burgess. Picture: CONTRIBUTEDColonel (Retd) Roger Burgess. Picture: CONTRIBUTED (Image: Archant)

The news comes as Lord Petre, Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Essex, prepares to stand down on August 4 after turning 75 – the retirement age for the sovereign’s representatives.

The new deputies for Chelmsford are former police and crime commissioner, Nicholas Kenneth Alston CBE DL and Stephen Bennett DL.

Col (Retd) Roger Ian Stuart Burgess OBE DL will take up the role for Thaxted, and Lorna Jane Rolfe JP DL for Saffron Walden.

For Harwich, Nigel Robin Charles Spencer MBE DL will serve as a deputy.

East Anglian Daily Times: High Sheriff of Essex, Lorna Rolfe. Picture: CONTRIBUTEDHigh Sheriff of Essex, Lorna Rolfe. Picture: CONTRIBUTED (Image: Archant)

Lord Petre said: “I am delighted to be able to make these appointments. The individuals concerned have made a great contribution to the county and fully deserve the recognition they have received.”

The role of Deputy Lieutenant is to assist the Lord Lieutenant in his duty to uphold the dignity of the Crown, and assist the Territorial, Auxiliary and Volunteer Reserve and Pre-Service organisations.

Mr Alston was elected as the first Essex police and crime commissioner in 2012, soon becoming the chair of the National Association of Police and Crime Commissioners in 2014.

Born in Harwich, he has also served as an officer in the Royal Navy and spent almost 30 years in the civil service.

East Anglian Daily Times: Nigel Spencer being handed a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Essex Teaching Awards 2017. Picture: PAUL STARRNigel Spencer being handed a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Essex Teaching Awards 2017. Picture: PAUL STARR (Image: PAUL STARR Photographer)

Mr Bennett is also a well-known name in Essex, having been secretary and clerk to Anglian Ruskin University – one of five executive staff acting as deputies to the vice chancellor and chief executive.

He has also been the president of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators UK, Ireland and associated territories.

Col (Rtd) Burgess has spent much of his working life in the army, beginning his career there in 1966 through to 1997.

He has also worked as a consultant in the defence industry, joined the Royal British Legion’s Thaxted branch in 1997, and was even a Queen’s Messenger from 1999 to 2006.

Although born in Scotland, Mrs Rolfe has lived in Essex for almost 40 years and has been a magistrate for more than 30.

She was the 836th High Sherriff of Essex after being appointed in April last year, and the seventh woman to hold the title.

Mr Spencer is a teacher and trained in Oxford in 1975.

He became the youngest deputy head in Essex four years later and has been behind many education initiatives including the rebuilding of three school gardens.