James Peill
English herald (born 1971)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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]
James van Someren Peill | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1971 (age 54–55) |
| Education | Monmouth School[citation needed] |
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh (MA) |
| Occupations | Author and Officer of Arms |
| Spouse | Saskia née Lawson-Johnston[citation needed] |
| Website | www.college-of-arms.gov.uk |
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.
