Obituary of Peter Floud, CBE

Peter Floud, CBE (1911–60) joined the Victoria & Albert Museum in 1935 as an Assistant Keeper in the Department of Circulation. In 1947 he became Keeper of the department, transforming its character and bringing it in closer touch with the needs of the post-war world. In 1954 he gained a CBE in recognition for this work.

From The Times, 25 January 1960

Keeper of Circulation at the V&A
Mr Peter Floud, CBE, Keeper of the Department of Circulation in the Victoria and Albert Museum, died on Friday at the age of 48.

Peter Castle Floud was born on June 1, 1911, a son of Sir Francis Floud, KCB, KCSI, KCMG, and was educated at Gresham's School, Holt, Wadham College, Oxford and at the London School of Economics.

Floud joined the staff of the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1935 as an Assistant Keeper in the Department of Circulation. At the outbreak of war in 1939 he was seconded to the London Regional Headquarters of the Ministry of Home Security and in 1944 he began his service with UNRRA in the Balkans and the Middle East, which culminated in his appointment as head of the UNRRA Mission at Albania in 1946-47. Floud became Keeper of the Department of Circulation in 1947 and his exceptionally distinguished work in that post was recognised in 1954 by his appointment as CBE.

To any undertaking, great or small, in which he was engaged, Floud gave himself completely with the full resources of his energy and mental power, tempered by the wisest kind of self-criticism. In building up the Department of Circulation after the war he had almost to begin anew, transforming the character of the department and bringing it in closer touch with the needs of the post-war world.

This arduous task occupied most of Floud's attention during the years following the end of the war and it was only comparatively recently that his researches into the history of the industrial arts were being brought to fuller fruition. He broke important new ground in his study of William Morris; and by his organisation of the Exhibition of English Decorative Arts, held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1951 to commemorate the centenary of the Great Exhibition, where he focused new attention upon the character and development of the applied arts during the later Victorian and Edwardian eras.

At the time of his death Floud was engaged in preparing an exhibition illustrating the history of English printed textiles, an application of an earlier exhibition which he had organised in Manchester some years previously. This large exhibition will take place at the Victoria and Albert Museum during the summer.

In the international field Floud had also made his mark. As chairman of the Children's Section of the International Council of Museums from 1950 to 1953 he widely sought and earnestly followed at the triennial conferences. Floud's services to the Museum Association, on the council of which he had served, were also deeply appreciated.

The loss to the museum profession caused by Floud's untimely death is incalculable. By those who came in contact with him, his integrity, breadth of vision, quiet humour and sense of dedicated service will be sorely missed and very long remembered.

Reproduced with kind permission of The Times
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