Obituary of Sir Eric Maclagan KCVO, CBE

Sir Eric Maclagan (1879–1951) joined the V&A in 1905 firstly in the Textiles department and then the Architecture & Sculpture department. In 1916 he was seconded to the Foreign Office, becoming the Ministry of Information’s controller for France in 1918, and was attached to the British peace delegation in Paris in 1919. In 1924 he was appointed director of the V&A and brought in many ideas which are now seen as central to running a modern museum such selling postcards and Christmas cards of museum objects, publishing popular books about the collections, free public lectures, and gallery guides.

From The Times, 17 September 1951

Sir Eric Maclagan, K.C.V.O, C.B.E, Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum from 1924 until 1945, died suddenly on Friday while in Spain.

Eric William Dalrymple Maclagan, born in 1879, was a son of the late Dr. W. D. Maclagan, Archbishop of York, and his second wife Augusta Anne, daughter of the sixth Lord Barrington. Educated at Winchester and Christ Church, Oxford, he joined the staff of the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1905. He was attached to the Department of Textiles, and in 1907 produced a useful 'Guide to English Ecclesiastical Embroideries'. Shortly after this he was transferred to the department of Architecture and Sculpture, where he worked under Mr A. B. Skinner, and on Mr. Skinner's death in 1908 became head of the department. One of his first tasks had been to rearrange the collection of Italian sculpture in a manner which may be accepted as a model of museum display. He also began the large 'Catalogue of Italian Sculpture', which was published in 1924.

In 1916 he was transferred temporarily to the Foreign Office, and later to the Ministry of Information. He became head of the Ministry's bureau in Paris in 1917 and its controller for France in 1918, and was attached to the British peace delegation in Paris in 1919. For his services in this connexion he was made a C.B.E.

On the retirement of Sir Cecil Harcourt Smith in 1924 Maclagan was appointed director and secretary of the museum. He made great strides in humanizing the museum by such developments as the extensive sale of picture post-cards and Christmas cards of museum objects, the issue of a popular series of sixpenny picture books (his own 'Children in Sculpture' and 'Portrait Busts' are good examples), the arrangement of lantern lectures open free to the public, and the encouragement of guide lecturers. Another valuable step of this kind was the placing on prominent exhibition each Monday of an 'Object of the Week', selected from the museum's principal treasures, with a descriptive label combining scholarship and popular appeal: no one could write those descriptions better than himself. In a wider sphere the prestige of the museum was undoubtedly increased among leaders in the art world abroad owing to his personality and scholarship, his powers as a linguist, and his almost unrivalled knowledge of Italian sculpture.

He was, moreover, personally responsible for a number of important public exhibitions held in the museum. Among the most outstanding where one of works of art belonging to the livery companies of the City of London in 1926, the William Morris Centenary Exhibition in 1934, the exhibition of the Eumorfopoulos collection in 1936, and, above all, the exhibition of English medieval art in 1930. Perhaps the most interesting of the exhibitions in 1945 was that of the sculptures from the Henry VII chapel and other parts of Westminster Abbey which had been removed for safety during the war. In these and other directions he proved himself an inspiring and efficient administrator. His own wide knowledge and cultured taste set an extremely high standard for those who worked under his leadership, and let to the acquisition by the museum of many notable works of artistic and historical importance.

Among his personal interests Italian Renaissance sculpture took first place, followed by French Romanesque architecture and sculpture, and by early Christian and Byzantine art; but there were few subjects within the scope of the museum to which he did not bring fresh ideas, as a result of a fine natural taste developed by wide reading and personal contact with works of art. He was a keen churchman, and took a prominent part in the activities of the Central Council which since 1916 has exercised control over the archaeological and artistic aspect of church buildings and their treasures. For many years, before the building of the new Church House at Westminster, the Central Council office, with the support of Sir Cecil Harcourt Smith, and later of Sir Eric Maclagan, was accommodated in the museum and depended much upon their advice and encouragement. Maclagan was chairman of the Winchester diocesan committee of the council, as well as an active member of the Lincoln Committee.

His colleagues and, indeed, all who came into close touch with him were impressed by his fundamental honesty, sincerity, and disinterestedness. His mind worked very rapidly - one of his colleagues complained that 'Maclagan always sees two moves ahead of me' - and there were in consequence times when he was brusque and impatient; but if he ever spoke in haste, he repented most generously at leisure. When in the mood he was a brilliant conversationalist, and being a Scotsman by birth could relate a good tale with zest and humour. Even to his friends he occasionally seemed stern and reserved, but there was something in his nature which always endeared him to the young: he was full of uncondescending sympathy with their anxieties and ambitions. He took part in no sports or games. A weekly visit to the cinema and the solving of 'Torquemada' were his lightest forms of relaxation. He lived in and for his work. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, acting as vice-president from 1832 to 1936; president of the Museums Association, 1935-36; an honorary A.R.I.B.A.; Officer de L'Instruction Publique in France; a member of the Order of St. Sava. He was knighted in 1933 and made a K.C.V.O. in 1946.

In 1913 he married Helen Elizabeth, daughter of Commander the Hon. Frederick Lascelles R.N., second son of the fourth Earl of Harewood. She died in 1942. He had two sons, one of whom was killed in action in 1942.

Issue 52108. © The Times 1951