Peter Castle Floud was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 civil servant and official of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration

United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration

The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration was an international relief agency, largely dominated by the United States but representing 44 nations. Founded in 1943, it became part of the United Nations in 1945, was especially active in 1945 and 1946, and largely shut down...

, administering missions in Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

, and Albania

Albania

Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...

. He was also an authority on William Morris

William Morris

William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...

.

Early life

The elder son of Sir Francis Floud

Sir Francis Floud

Sir Francis Lewis Castle Floud was born on 18 May 1875, eldest son of the Reverend H. Castle Floud. He was educated at Cranleigh School and King's College, London, and in 1909 married Phyllis, daughter of Colonel Everard A. Ford, of Hampstead...

 KCB

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

 KCSI

Order of the Star of India

The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes:# Knight Grand Commander # Knight Commander # Companion...

, KCMG

Order of St Michael and St George

The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....

, DCL,he was born together with twin sister Molly (m. du Sautoy) on June 1, 1911. Peter Floud was the brother of the politician Bernard Floud

Bernard Floud

Bernard Francis Castle Floud was a British farmer, television company executive and politician.-Before Parliament:...

. Both brothers were educated at Gresham's School

Gresham's School

Gresham’s School is an independent coeducational boarding school in Holt in North Norfolk, England, a member of the HMC.The school was founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham as a free grammar school for forty boys, following King Henry VIII's dissolution of the Augustinian priory at Beeston Regis...

, Holt

Holt, Norfolk

Holt is a market town and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The town is north of the city of Norwich, west of Cromer and east of King's Lynn. The town is on the route of the A148 King's Lynn to Cromer road. The nearest railway station is in the town of Sheringham where access to the...

, and Wadham College

Wadham College, Oxford

Wadham College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, located at the southern end of Parks Road in central Oxford. It was founded by Nicholas and Dorothy Wadham, wealthy Somerset landowners, during the reign of King James I...

, Oxford.

After graduating in 1931 Peter passed the Civil Service Examination for admission to the administrative class. 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 Jean Floud (CBE) with whom he had three children, Andrew, Frances and Esther.

Career outline

• 1935-1939: Assistant-Keeper, Victoria and Albert Museum
  Victoria and Albert Museum
  The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
  
  
• 1939-1944: Served for the London Regional Headquarters of the Ministry of Home Security
  Ministry of Home Security
  The Ministry of Home Security was a British government department established in 1939 to direct national civil defence during the Second World War.-Background:...
  
  
• 1944-1946: Administrator of UNRRA Balkan and Middle East Missions in Cairo
  Cairo
  Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
  
   and Teheran
• 1946-1947: Chief of UNRRA Mission to Albania
  Albania
  Albania , officially known as the Republic of Albania , is a country in Southeastern Europe, in the Balkans region. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea...
  
  
• 1947-1950: Head of the Department of Circulation at the Victoria and Albert Museum
• 1950-1953: Chairman of the Children's Section of the International Council of Museums
  International Council of Museums
  The International Council of Museums is an international organization of museums and museum professionals that is committed to the conservation, continuation and communication to society of the world's natural and cultural heritage, present and future, tangible and intangible.- Overview :Created...
  
  
• 1955: Made a Governor of the National Museum of Wales

The Department of Circulation, Victoria and Albert Museum

Floud joined the staff of the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1935 as an Assistant Keeper in the Department of Circulation. 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 head 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.