William Alfred Ismay

British collector and librarian (1910–2001) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William Alfred Ismay[1] MBE (10 April 1910 – 13 January 2001) was a librarian, writer and collector in Wakefield, West Yorkshire known for his significant collection of post-war studio pottery.[2] The collection called the W.A. Ismay Collection was bequeathed to the Yorkshire Museum and is one of the world's largest collections of 20th-century studio pottery.[3] It includes work by Bernard Leach, Hans Coper, Shoji Hamada, Takeshi Yasuda, David Leach Dan Arbeid and Lucie Rie.[4]

Thrown vase by Lucie Rie in the W.A. Ismay Collection

Life

Ismay was born in Wakefield, an only child; his father was a trouser presser and his mother a school teacher. He attended Wakefield Grammar School and studied classics at Leeds University. He was stationed in India during the Second World War as a signalman in the Royal Signals Corps[5]

From 1955 Ismay collected 3,600 pots from 500 makers.[6] By the time of his retirement in 1975 he was head librarian at Hemsworth Library. In 2014 a blue plaque was unveiled in his honour.[7]

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