Peter Cecil Wilson (8 March 1913 – 3 June 1984) was an English auctioneer and chairman of

Sotheby's Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

. Wilson's father was

Sir Mathew Wilson, 4th Baronet Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Mathew Richard Henry Wilson, 4th Baronet, CSI, DSO (25 August 1875 – 17 May 1958) was a British landowner, soldier, and Unionist politician. Biography Mathew Wilson was the son of Sir Matthew Amcotts Wilson, 3rd Baro ...

of Eshton Hall,

Gargrave Gargrave is a large village and civil parish in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is located along the A65 road, A65, north-west of Skipton. The village is situated on the very edge of the Yorkshire Dales; the River Aire and the Leeds ...

, Yorkshire. He was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

and at

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

. He married Helen Ballard in 1935 who he had met in Hamburg. They had two sons and she became a noted horticulturist after he became attracted to men. The marriage was dissolved in 1951 and they remained on good terms. He worked for

British Intelligence The Government of the United Kingdom maintains several intelligence agencies that deal with secret intelligence. These agencies are responsible for collecting, analysing and exploiting foreign and domestic intelligence, providing military intell ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, in London and Washington DC. He thought about taking this up as a career but decided to return to "Sotherbys" after the war. He appeared as a castaway on the

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

programme ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight audio recordin ...

'' on 26 September 1966. He was made 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 ...

in 1970, and was made honorary life president of Sotheby's in 1980, when he stood down as chairman. Wilson owned Garden Lodge at Logan Place in London's Kensington district for several years. He died in Paris in 1984, after being in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

for a week. He was 71. Wilson is mentioned in the

Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer, best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his ...

story "

The Property of a Lady ''Octopussy and The Living Daylights'' (sometimes published as ''Octopussy'') is the fourteenth and final James Bond book written by Ian Fleming. The book is a collection of short stories published in the United Kingdom by Jonathan Cape on 23 ...

", commissioned by

for use in their annual journal, ''The Ivory Hammer''.

References

WILSON, Peter Cecil
''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2016 (online edition, Oxford University Press, 2014) 1913 births Place of birth missing 1984 deaths Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Eton College Alumni of New College, Oxford British intelligence operatives English auctioneers Sotheby's people Younger sons of baronets 20th-century English businesspeople {{UK-business-bio-1910s-stub