David Piper (curator)

Sir David Towry Piper CBE FSA FRSL (21 July 1918 – 29 December 1990) was a British museum curator and author. He was director of the National Portrait Gallery 1964–1967, and of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 1967–1973; and Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge, 1967–1973, and Director of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1973–1985 and Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford, 1973–1985. He was knighted in 1983.

David Piper
Born	(1918-07-21)July 21, 1918 Wimbledon, London, England
Died	29 December 1990(1990-12-29) (aged 72) Wytham, Oxfordshire, England
Alma mater	University of Cambridge (MA)
Occupation	museum curator
Employer(s)	National Portrait Gallery, London; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Ashmolean Museum, Oxford
Spouse	Anne Horatia ​ (m. 1945)​
Children	3 daughters and 1 son

The second of three sons of Stephen Harvey Piper, Professor of Physics at Bristol University, Piper was born at Wimbledon and educated at Clifton College^[1] and St Catharine's College, Cambridge (where he took a MA).^[2][3]

Piper was Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Oxford for 1966–1967.^[4]

In 1956, Piper prepared a descriptive catalogue of the Petre family portraits at Ingatestone Hall for the Essex Record Office.^[5] He gave the 1968 Aspects of Art Lecture.^[6][7]

Under the pseudonym Peter Towry, Piper wrote a number of novels, including Trial by Battle (1959), a story based on his experiences as an officer in the Indian army, training in Bangalore and then seeing action against the Imperial Japanese Army in Malaya during World War II. He was subsequently a prisoner of war in Japan for three years.^[8]

In 1945, Piper married Anne Horatia (1920–2017), daughter of Oliffe Richmond, classics professor at Edinburgh University. She was a novelist and playwright. They had three daughters – Evanthe, Ruth, and Emma –^[9][10] and a son, theatre designer Tom Piper (born 1964).

Piper died in Wytham, Oxfordshire, on 29 December 1990.^[2]

Publications

His publications include:

• Petre Family Portraits. Essex Record Office Publication No 26. 1956.
• The English Face. Thames & Hudson. 1957.
• The Companion Guide to London. Collins. 1964.

As Peter Towry:

• Richard said no ... Morrow. 1953.
• It's Warm Inside. Chatto and Windus. 1953.
• Lord Minimus, a Heroic Comedy. Chatto and Windus. 1955.
• Trial by Battle. Hutchinson. 1959. (reprinted in 2019 by the Imperial War Museum but as by David Piper)^[11]
• Please Count Your Change. Macmillan. 1962.

References

1. "Clifton College Register" Muirhead, J.A.O. p475: Bristol; J.W Arrowsmith for Old Cliftonian Society; April, 1948
2. "Piper, Sir David Towry". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/39819. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 16 October 2019. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.) (subscription required)
3. Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, Volume 95, Kelly's Directories, 1969, p. 1585
4. "Oxford Slade Professors, 1870–present" (PDF). University of Oxford. 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 February 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
5. Piper, David (1956). Petre family Portraits. Essex Record Office Publication No 26.
6. "Aspects of Art Lectures". The British Academy.
7. Piper, David (1970). "The Development of the British Literary Portrait up to Samuel Johnson" (PDF). Proceedings of the British Academy. 54: 51–72.
8. "David Piper, 72, Dies; British Art Historian". The New York Times. 4 January 1991. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
9. "OBITUARY: Lady Anne Piper, who has died aged 96". Oxford Times. 1 June 2017. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
10. "The joy of sets". The Sunday Herald. 7 May 1994. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
11. "IWM classics: Trial by Battle".

Bibliography

• R. J. B. Walker, 'Piper, Sir David Towry (1918–1990)', rev. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2007 accessed 5 March 2013
• "Piper, Sir David (Towry)". Who's Who & Who Was Who. Vol. 1920–2008 (November 2012 online ed.). A & C Black. Retrieved 5 March 2013. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

Cultural offices
Preceded by Robert Hamilton	Director of the Ashmolean Museum 1973–1985	Succeeded by Christopher White