James Peill

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James van Someren Peill
FSA
Born1971 (age 54–55)
Education Monmouth School [ citation needed ]
Alma mater University of Edinburgh (MA)
OccupationsAuthor and Officer of Arms
SpouseSaskia née Lawson-Johnston[ citation needed ]
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 of arms and member of the Royal Household. [1]

Contents

Biography

Early life

Brought up in Herefordshire, Peill attended Monmouth School where he was Captain of Boats,[ citation needed ] before going up to read History of Art at the University of Edinburgh, graduating MA in 1994. [2]

Career

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). [3]

Elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (FSA) in 2016, [4] 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). [5]

Joining the College of Arms as a probationary officer in 2022,[ citation needed ] Peill was appointed in 2024 as Bluemantle Pursuivant in succession to Mark Scott. [6]

Family

In 2008 Peill married Saskia Lawson Johnston (born 1985),[ citation needed ] an artist and only daughter of the Hon. Philip Lawson Johnston, the glass engraver; [7] and granddaughter of Ian Lawson Johnston, 2nd Baron Luke KCVO .

Arms

Coat of arms of James van Someren Peill
Notes
Bluemantle Pursuivant
Crest
A Lion's Head erased Gules langued, collared and ringed Or, holding in the mouth a Key erect also Or.
Escutcheon
Argent a Lion rampant Gules collared Or between three Keys erect in bend sinister of the First.
Motto
Industria

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Bluemantle Pursuivant - College of Arms". College of Arms. 16 April 2024.
  2. ↑ "The afternoon session at Edinburgh". The Herald. 15 July 1994.
  3. ↑ "The History Man". www.goodwood.com. 10 July 2019.
  4. ↑ "Mr James Peill". Society of Antiquaries of London. 3 March 2016.
  5. ↑ "James Peill". Thames & Hudson.
  6. ↑ "No. 64374". The London Gazette. 19 April 2024. p. 7898.
  7. ↑ www.glassengraver.net