William Ralph Worsley was born in York, the eldest son of Sir Marcus Worsley, 5th Baronet and Hon. Bridget Assheton, daughter of 1st Baron Clitheroe. He was educated at Harrow School and the Royal Agricultural College, following which he qualified as a Chartered Surveyor. He served as a Lieutenant in the Queen's Own Yeomanry from 1975 to 1980 and subsequently became Honorary Colonel of the Yorkshire Squadron of the Queen's Own Yeomanry from 2008 to 2015. He is Chairman of the Howardian Hills AONB Joint Advisory Committee and served as a Secretary of State appointed member on the North York Moors National Park Authority from 1994 to 1998. He was a member of the Independent Panel on Forestry between 2011 and 2012 and a member of the Forestry Commissions Advisory panel from 1999 to 2006. He was a Director of the Scarborough Building Society from 1996 to 2009 and was chairman from 2002 to 2009. He was a Director of the Skipton Building Society from 2009 to 2011 and The Brunner Investment Trust plc from 2000 to 2014. He was President of the Country Land and Business Association from 2009 to 2011. Deputy President and Chairman of the CLA Board from 2007 to 2009 and Vice-President and Chairman of Policy Committee from 2005 to 2007. In 2016 he was appointed Chair of the National Forest Company responsible for the National Forest, the largest environmentally led regeneration project in England covering 200 square miles of the midlands. In 2018 following the launch of the Governments 25-year Natural Environment plan he was made the Governments Tree Champion leading an initiative to co-ordinate forestry and woodlands in England including planting 11 million trees plus a further one million in the towns and cities. He held this role till early 2020. At the beginning of 2020 he was appointed as Chair of the Forestry Commission. In 2018 he was appointed a Lay Canon of York Minster and a member of Chapter and the Cathedral Council. He is a member of the Court of the Merchant Taylors’ Company and was Mayor of the Company of the Merchants of the Staple of England from 2014 to 2015. He is President of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of North Yorkshire in 2007. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors in 1992 and a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Societies in 2018.
Marriage and children
In 1987 he married Marie-Noelle Dreesmann daughter of Bernard Dreesmann. They have three children.
