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Peter Floud

{{Short description|British civil servant and official}}

Peter Castle Floud CBE, (1 June 1911 – 22 January 1960) was a British civil servant and official of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, administering missions in Egypt, Iran, and Albania. He was also an authority on William Morris.

Early life

The elder son of Sir Francis Floud KCB KCSI, KCMG, DCL, he was born together with twin sister Molly (m. du Sautoy) on 1 June 1911. Peter Floud was the brother of the politician Bernard Floud. Both brothers were educated at Gresham's School, Holt, and Wadham College, Oxford.

After graduating in 1931, Peter passed the Civil Service Examination for admission to the Civil Service. He was admitted to the London School of Economics for research in the history of the industrial arts in Britain with special reference to the work of William Morris.

In 1938 he married the sociologist Jean MacDonald (CBE) with whom he had three children, Andrew, Frances and Esther.

Career outline

The Department of Circulation, Victoria and Albert Museum

[http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/journals/research-journal/issue-no.-4-summer-2012/room-38a-and-beyond-post-war-british-design-and-the-circulation-department More information on the Circulation Department]

Floud joined the staff of the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1935 as an Assistant Keeper in the Department of Circulation, which sent touring exhibitions around the UK.Joanna Weddell, 'The Ethos of the Victoria and Albert Museum Circulation Department 1947-1960', Design Objects and the Museum, ed. Liz Farrelly and Joanna Weddell (London: Bloomsbury, 2016), p. 15-25. He broke off his work with the museum on the outbreak of war but returned following the completion of his secondment to the Department of Home Security and was made Keeper of the Department of Circulation. Together with a team of three women, - Barbara Morris, Shirley Bury and Elizabeth Aslin - Peter broke important ground in the study of the history of industrial arts. The great achievement of this team was a ground-breaking exhibition titled 'Victorian and Edwardian Decorative Arts,' which was staged in 1952. It proved unexpectedly popular with the public and put the V&A at the forefront of the revival of interest in Victorian progressive design. Peter's work for the museum was recognised in 1954 by his appointment as CBE. In 1955 he was made a Governor of the National Museum of Wales as part of his museum work. Floud was praised as 'that rare kind of scholar who was able to apply to the material culture of his own day his vast store of knowledge and his ability to discriminate'.J. Noel White, ‘Peter Floud Obituary’, Design 136, Council of Industrial Design, April 1960, p. 63/4.

Death

Peter Floud died on 22 January 1960, aged 48, from an inoperable brain tumor.

References

{{Reflist}}

  • Who's Who 1960 (A & C. Black, London, 1960)
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20090129202854/http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/periods_styles/features/history/staff_obituaries/circulation/floud/index.html V & A Obituary] (The Times, 1960)
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20090515131204/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6276267.ece Article on Oxford Spy Ring] by Ben Macintyre and Steve Bird (The Times 2009)
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20090515111908/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6276058.ece Stub Article on Oxford Spy Ring] by Steve Bird (The Times, 2009)

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Floud, Peter Castle}}

Category:1911 births

Category:1960 deaths

Category:People educated at Gresham's School

Category:Alumni of Wadham College, Oxford

Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire

Category:British officials of the United Nations