James van Someren Peill | |
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| Born | 1971 Herefordshire, England |
| Education | Monmouth School |
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh (MA) |
| Occupation(s) | Author and officer-at-arms |
| Spouse | Saskia née Lawson-Johnston |
| Children | 4 daughters |
| Parents |
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| Website | www.college-of-arms.gov.uk |
James van Someren Peill FSA (born 1971), is a British author and historian, who since 2024 serves at the College of Arms in London as an officer-at-arms and member of the Royal Household. [1]
Of ancient Germanic extraction a scion of the Peill family [2] of Appleby-in-Westmorland, [3] he was born in 1971 to land agent, Ian Ralph Peill FRICS [4] and Caroline née Parsons-Smith, sister-in-law of Peter Welby-Everard. [5]
Brought up in Herefordshire, he attended Monmouth School where he was Captain of Boats before going up to read History of Art at the University of Edinburgh, graduating MA in 1994. [6]
Peill joined Christie's as a graduate trainee in London specialising in furniture and worked as an auctioneer in New York, becoming a director, until 2008. Recruited in 2009 by the 10th Duke of Richmond, Lennox and Gordon as curator of the Goodwood Collection (until 2022), [7] he also served the 11th Duke as general manager of the Cass Sculpture Foundation (2018–20). [8]
Elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (FSA) in 2016, [9] Peill is the author of Glorious Goodwood: A Biography of England’s Greatest Sporting Estate (Constable & Little, Brown, 2019) and The English Country House (Vendome, 2013), as well as co-authoring, with fellow antiquarian Desmond FitzGerald, Irish Furniture (Yale, 2007) and The Irish Country House (Vendome, 2010). [10]
Joining the College of Arms as a probationary officer in 2022, Peill was appointed in 2024 as Bluemantle Pursuivant [11] in succession to Mark Scott.
In 2008 Peill married Saskia Lawson Johnston (born 1985), an artist and only daughter of the Hon. Philip Lawson Johnston, [12] the glass engraver; [13] her grandfather, the 2nd Baron Luke KCVO (who married Barbara Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe), [14] served on the Church Assembly (House of Laity) and was Master Draper (for 1962/63). [15]
James and Saskia Peill are followers of HTB and have four daughters. They live at Wiston, West Sussex. [16]
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