Peter Craig Byrom, OBE

Died 1st January 2023, aged 95

Peter Craig Byrom, OBE (Tilly’s, 1943-1945)

The following obituary was kindly provided by Mrs Hoyte Byrom, Peter’s widow. 

Peter Byrom was born in Hoylake, Cheshire in 1927, with a silver spoon in his mouth. However, things soon began to tarnish with his parents’ divorce and the outbreak of World War 2. Peter was evacuated to USA with his mother and brother but three years later he decided to return by sea to wartime Britain, at a time when German U-boats threatened convoys of ships crossing the Atlantic. He was 15 years old and too young to realise his dream of enlisting at Dartmouth naval college. He spent a couple of years at St Edwards School, Oxford, before joining the Royal Naval Voluntary Reserves in 1945.

When he was demobbed, Peter chose to train as an architect at Liverpool University, though he did not complete the course as he preferred to join the Byrom family cotton spinning business in Lancashire. This led to a lifetime career within textiles; working with the manufacture and marketing of cotton, man-made fibres, wool and silk.

Peter had unstoppable natural enthusiasm and maintained a life-long conviction that good design was paramount, not only in finished product but also in the basic fibre. For Peter it was always about aesthetics, both in look and in handle. A lasting image is of him caressing a piece of fabric, sometimes in a natural fibre and saying that was the target. Peter’s textile background and interest in design always showed through. Whilst working for ICI Fibres he identified the need for a design studio which became Deryck Healey International and over the course of his textile career he came to be known for influencing students to take up a career in industry rather than start up their own studios when newly graduated.

Peter served on many committees and found a talent for working pro bono publico within a number of institutions, notably on the governing body of the Royal College of Art between 1973 and 1986 at a time of tension, turmoil, uncertainty and resistance. During this time the Government, through the Department of Education and Science, issued two ultimata that the College needed to change to ensure its survival in its current form at a time when British manufacturing was in decline. 

Initially Peter joined the Council as Textiles representative in 1973, became Treasurer, then Vice-Chairman and finally Chair in 1981. He came to realise the handicaps that held the College back – a surfeit of committees with an overload of bureaucracy; unlimited tenure for Professors with no firm teaching commitment to deliver to their students and a tendency to produce artists who were not prepared to join productive industry in Britain.

Peter was a shrewd and sympathetic listener who believed in dialogue. He gained the confidence of members of Council, senior staff and students alike, allowing quieter voices equal prominence with the dominant. His relaxed and informal manner charmed and disarmed the disgruntled as his ability to analyse shone a light on the way forward rather than forcing it through.

When the Council selected Jocelyn Stevens as Rector in 1984, it was a daring appointment as his background was not in art, education or academia but in Fleet Street where he had a formidable reputation. Part of Peter’s role as Chair was to counsel Jocelyn regularly by speaking his truth. Jocelyn remarked appreciatively that it was the first time anyone had had the courage to be candid and risk his ire.

For helping to transform the College into the internationally recognised institution for Art and Design which it is today, Peter was awarded an OBE in 1987.  He was exceptional in successfully bridging between industry and education in textile design colleges.

Peter has been blessed with a loving caring family. He married Norma in 1952 and had six children: Mandy, Jamie, Sally, Judy, Danny and Joe. He married Gillie in 1984. There are thirteen grandchildren and seventeen great-grandchildren, at the last count!

 

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