Harold James Plenderleith MC

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

FCS (19 September 1898 – 2 November 1997) was a 20th century Scottish art conservator and

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

. He was a large and jovial character with a strong Dundonian accent.

Biography

Harold Plenderleith was born in

Coatbridge Coatbridge ( sco, Cotbrig or Coatbrig, gd, Drochaid a' Chòta) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Airdrie, Coatbrid ...

on 19 September 1898. He was the eldest child of Robert James Plenderleith who was art master at

Harris Academy Harris Academy is a co-educational comprehensive school in the West End of Dundee, Scotland. Harris Academy was founded in 1885 and is the oldest state school in Dundee. Harris Academy is also one of the largest state run schools in Dundee in ...

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

and Harold was consequently educated there, also being school dux. His younger brother was Robert Waldron Plenderleith

. He then joined University College in St Andrews in 1916 but after two terms went to officer training school due to the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

becoming a Lieutenant in the Lancashire Fusiliers in 1917. He served on the Western Front from August 1917. He received a shrapnel wound in the arm on the

Ypres Salient The Ypres Salient around Ypres in Belgium was the scene of several battles and an extremely important part of the Western front during the First World War. Ypres district Ypres lies at the junction of the Ypres–Comines Canal and the Ieperlee. ...

. He was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC ...

in 1918 for a successful night raid on a German pillbox. In 1919 he then returned to study

Chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the elements that make up matter to the compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions: their composition, structure, proper ...

University College, Dundee A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

and graduated with a BSc in 1921 and gained his doctorate in 1923. In 1924, he began to work at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

with Dr Alexander Scott in the newly created Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. This department had been created by the museum to address objects in the collection that had begun to rapidly deteriorate as a result of being stored in the

London underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

railway tunnels during the

. Scott and Plenderleith began applying their knowledge of Chemistry to the deterioration of museum objects and began scientific conservation in the United Kingdom. As an archaeologist he was involved in the excavations of the tomb of

Tutankhamun Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...

in Egypt, Sir Leonard Woolley's site at Ur, and the

Sutton Hoo Sutton Hoo is the site of two early medieval cemeteries dating from the 6th to 7th centuries near the English town of Woodbridge. Archaeologists have been excavating the area since 1938, when a previously undisturbed ship burial containing ...

ship burial. In 1934 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

. His proposers were Alexander Scott,

Arthur Pillans Laurie Prof Arthur Pillans Laurie FRSE LLD (1861 – 1949) was a Scottish chemist who pioneered the scientific analysis of paintings, especially by Rembrandt. He also was a fascist symapthiser who opposed the Second World War. Early life Laurie wa ...

Sir James Irvine Sir James Colquhoun Irvine KBE JP PhD (Leipzig) DL DSc BSc FRS FRSE FEIS (9 May 1877 – 12 June 1952) was a British organic chemist and Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of St Andrews from 1921 until his death. As a research ch ...

and

William Peddie 250px, William Peddie (ca 1910) William Peddie FRSE LLD (31 May 1861 – 2 June 1946) was a Scottish physicist and applied mathematician, known for his research on colour vision and molecular magnetism. Life He was born in Papa Westray in Orkney ...

. In the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

he worked with Sir

John Forsdyke Sir Edgar John Forsdyke KCB (12 September 1883 – 3 December 1979) was Director and Principal Librarian of the British Museum from 1936 to 1950. Under his tenure, an attempt was made to clean the Elgin Marbles in 1937, which lasted until 1938 a ...

on the relocation of precious artefacts from the British Museum into mines and quarries in Wales to avoid bomb damage. On the night of 10-11 May 1941 when the British Museum was bombed, he crawled "like a snake" into a burning book storage area to investigate the damage. Plenderleith retired from the British Museum in 1959 to become the first director of the International Center for the study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (

ICCROM The International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to the preservation of cultural heritage worldwide through training, information, research, co ...

). He was the director of ICCROM until 1971. He helped set up and then served on the Council of the

International Institute for Conservation The International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (IIC) is a global organisation for conservation and restoration professionals with over two thousand members in over fifty countries. IIC seeks to promote the knowledge, ...

from its creation in 1950 until 1971 and was IIC's President from 1965 to 1968. He received many medals throughout his career, including: the Gold Medal of the Society of Antiquaries in 1964; Unesco Bronze Medal, 1971; the Conservation Service Award of the U.S. Department of the Interior, 1976 and the ICCROM Award, Rome, 1979. He died in

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histor ...

on 2 November 1997 aged 99.

Family

He was married twice. Firstly (and for over 50 years) he was married in 1926 to Elizabeth K S Smyth. Following Elizabeth's death in 1982, in 1988, aged 90, he married Margaret MacLennan (nee MacLeod). He had four stepchildren by his second marriage but no biological children by either marriage.

Publications

Books

* ''The Conservation of Antiquities and Works of Art: Treatment, Repair and Restoration'' by Harold James Plenderleith, A. E. A. Werner. Oxford Univ Pr, (0-19-212960-0) * ''The Preservation of Leather Bookbindings'' by H. J. Plenderleith. British Museum, (0-7141-0227-X) * ''Qumran Cave 1'' by George L. Harding, D. Barthelemy, J. T. Milik, R. De Vaux, G. M. Crowfoot, Harold James Plenderleith. Oxford Univ Pr, (0-19-826301-5)

Chapters

Articles

* *

Honours and awards

* Gold Medal of the Society of Antiquaries in 1964. * Unesco Bronze Medal, 1971. * The Conservation Service Award of the U.S. Department of the Interior, 1976. * The ICCROM Award, Rome, 1979.

Memorial lecture

Since Plenderleith's death, the Scottish Society for Conservation and Restoration (SSCR) have organised an annual Plenderleith Memorial Lecture, the SSCR merged with several other organizations in 2005 to form the

Institute of Conservation The Institute of Conservation (Icon) is the professional charitable body, representing and supporting the practice and profession of conservation. It has around 2500 members worldwide, including professional conservators, scientists and teachers i ...

, and today the lecture continues annually under the auspices of the Committee of th
Icon Scotland Group

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plenderleith, Harold James 1898 births 1997 deaths People from Coatbridge Alumni of the University of Dundee Recipients of the Military Cross Scottish archaeologists Employees of the British Museum British curators Scottish curators Conservator-restorers Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows of the Chemical Society