Sir Trenchard Cox, C.B.E., M.A., F.Litt.

Trenchard Cox was born on 31 July 1905 and educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge, where he took a first in modern languages. At that time, no British university offered a course in the history of art and for three years, from 1929 to 1932, Cox served an unpaid, albeit productive, apprenticeship in the subject by working as a volunteer in the National Gallery, checking signatures for Sir Charles Holmes, F.S.A., and, later, in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum. He also took a short course in medieval art at Berlin University, under Adolf Goldschmidt, followed by a period in Paris at the Sorbonne. The latter experience resulted in the publication of his first and most important monograph, a study of the French Renaissance manuscript painter and portraitist, Jean Fouquet, Native of Tours (1931). The quality of this work was recognized by W. G. Constable, and Cox was invited to collaborate with him on the catalogue of the major exhibition of French art held at the Royal Academy in 1932. One thing led to another, and later in the year Cox was finally launched on his professional career when he was appointed assistant to the director of the Wallace Collection, with its rich assemblage of eighteenth-century French paintings. It was during his time at the Wallace Collection that he developed his talent for popular education, born of his genuine interest in the lives of Tom, Dick and Harry and his own enthusiasms. His A General Guide to the Wallace Collection (1933) and A Short Illustrated History of the Wallace Collection and its Founders (1936) were models of their kind and reached a wide audience. On the outbreak of war in 1939, Cox was given the task of organizing the evacuation of the exhibits to a place of safety before being seconded to the Home Office, where he became private secretary to Sir Alexander Maxwell, the Permanent Under- Secretary, and honed his latent skills as an administrator. Released from war-time duties in 1944, he was appointed director of the City of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery much, he always modestly maintained, to his own surprise. Nevertheless, his success in the post established his reputation as a leading member of the profession; he restored the buildings to their original function after five years of use as council offices, repairing and refurbishing them on a shoestring. His natural charm, friendliness and professionalism won over the hard-headed Birmingham city fathers, and Cox's publication in 1947 of his monograph, David Cox, was an elegant tribute to the city's most famous artist. The Museum's Friends was one of the first such organizations in this country; it was vigorously supported by Cox and helped to consolidate the museum's high standing in the local community. In 1956, on the strength of his work at Birmingham, he was appointed director and secretary of the Victoria and Albert Museum. There, he introduced conservation and education departments, expanded the circulation department (now, sadly, abolished) which provided over a hundred exhibitions a year to provincial galleries and art schools, reorganized and extended the library, acquired objects of first-rate quality and mounted some of the finest exhibitions ever seen in London, notably `Opus Anglicanum' in 1963 and `The Orange and the Rose' in 1964. Throughout his career, Cox's concern for his staff was a crucial element in the successful completion of his projects; always strongly supportive of them they repaid him with a loyalty and affection rare in the competitive field of art history. He was president of the Museums Association in 1963, member of the Ancient Monuments Board for England 1959-69 and the Standing Commission on Museums and Galleries 1967-77 and appointed Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur in 1967. Failing eyesight caused his early retirement in 1966. Continuing his interest in popular education, he was the founding president in 1968 of the National Association of Decorative and Fine Art Societies (NADFAS), and his fluency in European languages made him a favourite for British Council lecture tours. In retirement, in 1968 he was appointed Peoples' Warden at St Martin-in-the- Fields, where he was a strong supporter of its social work among the down-and-outs. He loved the theatre and always had the latest novel in his pocket to while away the time; towards the end of his long life he would forget where he had put the copies down and they would turn up in odd corners of Burlington House. He died on 21 December 1995.