Obituary of Harold Clifford Smith
Harold Clifford Smith (1876–1960) was a specialist in the study of old English furniture and the author of works on the decorative arts in general. He joined the Victoria & Albert Museum in 1900 as an assistant in the National Art Library. In 1922 he became Assistant Keeper in the Department of Woodwork, Deputy Keeper in 1934 and Keeper from 1935 to 1936 when he retired.
From The Times, 17 February 1960
English FurnitureMr H Clifford Smith, formerly Keeper of the Department of Woodwork at the Victoria and Albert Museum, died on Sunday at the age of 83.
He was a specialist in the study of old English furniture, but he was also a writer of wide historical and antiquarian knowledge on the decorative arts in general, with a special turn for the human side of the subject as reflected in manners and customs. His most important publication was a book on the art treasures of Buckingham Palace.
Harold Clifford Smith, son of the late A Clifford Smith and grandson of Sir William Smith, DCL, LLD, FSA, was born in London July 7, 1876. He was educated at Bradfield College and University College, Oxford, where he graduated in 1898, afterwards studying for a year at the Slade School, University College, London.
He entered the Museum Service in 1900 as assistant in the National Art Library at the Victoria & Albert Museum. From this he was transferred to the Department of Woodwork, becoming Assistant Keeper in 1922, Deputy Keeper in 1934 and Keeper from 1935 to 1936 when he retired, having served longer than any other senior official of the museum. Outside the museum he was on the governing bodies of several places of historical interest, including Sulgrave Manor, the home of the Washingtons, Northants and Dr Johnson's House, Gough Square, EC. At various times Clifford Smith was member of council of the Society of Antiquaries, member of the executive committee of the National Art Collections Fund and member of the executive committee of the Georgian Group. From 1921 he was inspector of furniture and works of art at Chequers, the national home to Prime Ministers, in Buckinghamshire.
Clifford Smith's earliest publications were connected with the smallest of the decorative arts of which he had made a special study: 'Jewellery' in 1908 and 'The Goldsmith and the Young Couple' - a title that well indicates his way of treating a subject - in 1915. He was responsible for several of the official publications of the Victoria and Albert Museum on woodwork: 'The Bromley Room', 1914; 'The Inlaid Room from Sizergh Castle', 1915; 'Catalogue of English Gothic Furniture', 1923; 'The Waltham Abbey Room', 1924; 'Catalogue of Late Tudor and Early Stuart Furniture', 1930 and 'The Haynes Grange Room', 1935.
The acquisition of the last was a good instance of the informal way in which things often come to the national collections as also of Smith's watchfulness, though he said modestly that it was an 'accident'. The room, a perfect example of early English panelling, was already packed up for delivery to America when Smith mentioned it casually at a luncheon party. The immediate response was a contribution of £250 towards the purchase price and before the luncheon was over £2,000 had been promised. The remaining £2,000 needed was raised with comparative ease.
'Buckingham Palace, Its Furniture, Decoration and History', with introductory chapters on the building and the site by Christopher Hussesy was first published by 'Country Life' in 1931. In writing the book, Clifford Smith had the assistance of Queen Mary who supplied him with much information and herself corrected the proofs. In 1937 the book was republished at a lower price in a Coronation edition.
Other works by Clifford Smith of a similar kind are 'Sulgrave Manor and the Washingtons', with a foreword by Viscount Lee of Fareham, 1933 and 'Marble Hill House, Twickenham', 1929. As a gift to his old college, Clifford Smith prepared in 1943 a private inventory of the works of art of all kinds belonging to University College, Oxford, the first complete inventory of the artistic possessions of any of the Oxford colleges to be compiled.
He was a contributor to the 'Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries', the 'Antiquaries Journal', 'Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers', the 'Dictionary of English Furniture' and many periodicals and art magazines.
Though Clifford Smith had a wide knowledge of art in general and sound judgment of quality, his special concern was the 'art treasure', that is to say, the work of art which has acquired the value of historical or sentimental associations or has the value of rarity, values which may or may not coincide with his aesthetic value. His private collection included Venetian paintings of the 18th century, Tudor portraits including Henry VIII and Anne of Denmark and English furniture of the 17th century.
His human approach to works of art made Clifford Smith an ideal public lecturer. He was a big, genial man with a fresh complexion and looked rather like a country squire. An attractive shyness and hesitation in his manner was likely to leave strangers in ignorance of his vast stores of widely assorted knowledge. In 1925 he married Gladys, daughter of John Beattie Crozier. They had no children. His wife died in 1957.
Reproduced with kind permission of The Times
©Times Newspapers Limited
