Edward Playfair

Sir Edward Playfair KCB
Born	(1909-05-17)17 May 1909 London, England
Died	21 March 1999(1999-03-21) (aged 89) London, England
Occupation(s)	civil servant and businessman
Years active	1931–1983
Spouse	Molly Rae ​ (m. 1941)​
Children	three daughters

Sir Edward Wilder Playfair KCB (17 May 1909 – 21 March 1999) was an English civil servant and businessman.^[1][2]

Biography

Edward Playfair was born in London on 17 May 1909, the only child of Harriet Forester Leighton (1876–1967) and Dr Ernest Playfair (1871–1951), a physician. His grandmother Mary Leighton was a noted translator of medieval legend of Virgilius the Sorcerer for Andrew Lang's The Violet Fairy Book.^[3] He was educated at Eton College as a King's scholar and received a scholarship to attend King's College, Cambridge. He achieved a first class degree in classics and then studied history.^[2]

He started work at the UK government Inland Revenue in 1931. In 1934, he moved to the Treasury. He was involved in financing British universities at the time when the University Grants Committee received its funding directly from the Treasury.

In 1947, he worked for a year within the Control Commission for Germany in London. In the 1949 New Year Honours he was made a Companion of The Most Honourable Order of the Bath (CB). He then continued at the Treasury until 1956 when he was appointed Permanent Under-Secretary at the War Office. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 1957 New Year Honours.^[4] He was Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Defence (1960–61).

In the 1960s and 70s, he worked in business. He was the Chairman of International Computers and Tabulators (1961–65), a Director of National Westminster Bank (1961–79), and a Director of Glaxo Holdings (1961–79). During his time at ICT, he was President of the British Computer Society (1963–65).^[5] In 1966 he declared himself a "hater of St Pancras" and thus was opposed to Sir John Betjeman's campaign to save the Sir George Gilbert Scott designed Midland Grand Hotel.^[6]

Playfair became a trustee (1967–74) and for two years Chairman of the Board (1972–74) of the National Gallery in London. He was also a member of the governing bodies of Imperial College (1958–83) and University College London.

Personal life

In 1941 he married Molly Rae, a doctor. Together they had three daughters. He died of cancer in London in 1999.

References

1. Noel Annan, Obituary: Sir Edward Playfair, The Independent, 25 March 1999.
2. Robert Armstrong, Playfair, Sir Edward Wilder (1909–1999), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, September 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/72106.
3. Raffalovich, André; Playfair, Edward Wilder (1992). Letters to Edward Playfair. Aylesford Press. p. 18. ISBN 9781869955236. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
4. Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003), Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, vol. 1 (107th ed.), Wilmington, Delaware: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, p. 269, ISBN 978-0-9711966-2-9 (Cited at thePeerage.com, which accessed 18 July 2020)
5. BCS Past Presidents Archived 3 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine, British Computer Society, UK.
6. "Eyesore or gem: St Pancras". BBC. 24 June 2007. Retrieved 2 May 2014.

Bibliography

• André Raffalovich, Letters to Edward Playfair, Aylesford Press, 1992. ISBN 1-869955-22-6, ISBN 1-869955-23-4.

Government offices
Preceded by Sir Richard Powell	Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence 1960–1961	Succeeded by Sir Robert Heatlie Scott