The obituary of Sir Francis Philip Cunliffe-Owen

Obituary

Sir Philip Cunliffe-Owen

We regret to announce the death of Sir Philip Cunliffe-Owen, which occurred at Lowestoft yesterday afternoon. He had been suffering from heart disease for some time. He was in his 66th year, having been born on June 8, 1828, the third son of Captain Cunliffe-Owen, R.N., who had married a daughter of Sir Henry Blosset, formerly Chief Justice of Bengal. As a boy young Owen followed his father's profession, but left the Navy after five years' service on account of ill-health. At that time the organization which we now know as the Science and Art Department was in its infancy, and was established at Marlborough House, the leading spirit, under the Prince Consort, being Mr. (afterwards Sir Henry) Cole. Here a place was found for Owen, and he quickly made his mark. In 1855 he was appointed one of the superintendents of the British section of the Paris Exhibition; and two years later, having proved his organizing capacity and having greatly commended himself to those in authority, he became deputy-general-superintendent of the newly-established museum at South Kensington. In 1860 he became assistant director, his chief being still Sir Henry Cole. In 1862 he was made director of the foreign sections of the International Exhibition; and from that time forward he may be said to have taken the leading part in all exhibitions of the kind in which England either had a share or which were organized on our own soil. Thus he represented this country in Paris in 1867, in Vienna in 1873, at Philadelphia in 1875 (though he did not remain until the exhibition was actually opened), and in Paris again in 1878. With all this came abundant official recognition. He succeeded Sir Henry Cole as director of the South Kensington Museum in 1873; about the same time he was made a C.B.; after the Paris Exhibition of 1878 he became, on the recommendation of the Prince of Wales, a K.C.M.G. and C.I.E.; and after the successful close of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in 1886 he was made a K.C.B. His taste for orders was gratified also by the bestowal of a large number of foreign

decorations, among which it is only necessary to mention that that of Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour. Last year he retired from South Kensington, and on the reorganization which ensued the post of director was divided, General Festing becoming director for science and Professor Middleton director for art.
Sir Philip Cunliffe-Owen will always claim a place in the history of the present reign as the leading British representative of that movement for industrial and artistic exhibitions which has characterized it. He took, indeed, no part in the first exhibition of all, nor do we find his name in connexion with the building at Sydenham which was intended to perpetuate the motives and even the form of the Hyde Park "Exhibition of All Nations" in 1851. But he fell in with the movement very soon afterwards; he helped, very efficiently, to carry out the Prince Consort's views at South Kensington, in Paris, and, later, in other capitals; and he showed to the last a great talent for preparing such displays and for making them a success. Physically he was robust and capable of much hard work; he had a great fund of energy, and a good deal of shrewd knowledge of the world, which he turned to excellent account in that direction.
As director of the South Kensington Museum, he was neither more nor less than the capable man of business; he had little expert knowledge, and perhaps hardly valued it enough in those who possessed it. He had little to do with the actual purchases of objects, and still less with the teaching of art in the central schools or in the various schools throughout the country that have their headquarters in the Museum, under the supreme control of "My Lords." But, on the other hand, he deserves a good deal of credit for the organization of that splendid Museum as a whole; for the establishment of the important branch at Bethnal-green; and for the relations established between the central institution and the various local museums throughout the country, which are now such a factor in our civilization.
Sir Philip Cunliffe-Owen married, in 1854, a German lady, the daughter of Baron F. von Reitzenstein, formerly commander of the Royal Prussian Horse Guards. He leaves a numerous family.