Anna Bridget Plowden (18 June 1938 – 21 August 1997) was a British

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

conservator and restorer. She has been described as the first scientifically trained conservator to work in the

private sector The private sector is the part of the economy which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The private sector employs most of the workfo ...

, rather than in a museum or university.

Earky life and education

She was the daughter of British industrialist and politician

Edwin Plowden Edwin Noel Auguste Plowden, Baron Plowden, Order of the British Empire, GBE, Order of the Bath, KCB (6 January 1907 – 15 February 2001) was a British industrialist and public servant in the Treasury. Background and career Plowden was born in ...

and educational reformer Bridget Plowden (Lord and Lady Plowden). After attending

New Hall School New Hall School is a Catholic co-educational private boarding and day school in the village of Boreham near Chelmsford, Essex, England. It was founded in 1642 in the Low Countries, now Belgium, by sisters of the Catholic order Canonesses of ...

Boreham Boreham is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Essex, England. The parish is in the City of Chelmsford and Chelmsford (UK Parliament constituency), Chelmsford Parliament constituency. The village is approximately northeast ...

near

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Colchester and Southend-on-Sea. It is located north-east of London ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, she enrolled at the Institute of Archaeology in 1962. At the time, the Institute was a college within the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

, though it is now part of

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

. She earned a Diploma in Conservation in 1963, which led to a Fellowship from the British School of Archaeology in Iraq. This opportunity enabled her to contribute to the conservation and restoration of the

Nimrud Ivories The Nimrud ivories are a large group of small carved ivory plaques and figures dating from the 9th to the 7th centuries BC that were excavated from the Assyrian city of Nimrud (in modern Ninawa Governorate, Ninawa in Iraq) during the 19th and 20 ...

at the

National Museum of Iraq The Iraq Museum () is the national museum of Iraq, located in Baghdad. It is sometimes informally called the National Museum of Iraq. The Iraq Museum contains precious relics from the Mesopotamian, Abbasid, and Persian civilizations. It was loo ...

Career

She worked as a

freelance ''Freelance'' (sometimes spelled ''free-lance'' or ''free lance''), ''freelancer'', or ''freelance worker'', are terms commonly used for a person who is self-employed and not necessarily committed to a particular employer long-term. Freelance w ...

conservator, having set up her own business, ''Anna Plowden Ltd'', in 1968. In order to take on larger projects, her business merged with ''Peter Smith (R and R) Ltd'' in 1985; ''Plowden and Smith Ltd'' remains "one of the largest and most successful businesses in the conservation private sector".

Honours

In 1970, Plowden was elected a Fellow 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, ...

. In the

1997 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1997 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countrie ...

, she was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) by

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

"for conservation services to museums". In 1998, the "Anna Plowden Trust" was founded in memory of Anna Plowden to support education and training in

historic preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK) is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...

.About Us
- website of the Anna Plowden Trust

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plowden, Anna 1938 births 1997 deaths Conservator-restorers Commanders of the Order of the British Empire British women in business Daughters of life peers 20th-century British businesspeople