David Peace

David Peace MBE FSA FGE (13 March 1915 – 15 February 2003) was a British glass engraver and town planner. Peace, along with William Wilson and Laurence Whistler are accredited as simultaneously reviving the craft of glass engraving during the 1930s. Several pieces of his work are situated in Westminster Abbey including an engraved glass screen at St George's Chapel.

Early years Peace was born to Herbert W. F. Peace and Mabel Peace (née Hammond) in Sheffield. His father was a Sheffield file maker. While at Mill Hill School, his teacher Clarence White introduced him to wood engraving. Peace sent one of his more accomplished pieces to Eric Gill, the sculptor and typeface designer, and received a postcard of commendation in return. A bowl engraved by Peace is used by the Society of Antiquaries of London for counting votes cast at ballots.

During the 1960s he started to display at exhibitions providing illustrated catalogues of his work. His work was acknowledge when in 1973 he was made the Master of the Art Workers' Guild and then again in 1975, when he was made the first chairman of the Guild of Glass Engravers, an organisation he help found. It was in 1975 that his first work, a memorial stone for the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins was unveiled at Westminster Abbey. He would later go onto design the inscription for his friend Sir John Betjeman's memorial at the Abbey. The Victoria & Albert Museum have 33 pieces of Peace's work in their collections.

After retiring from Cambridgeshire County Council in 1979, Peace spent time writing his book Glass Engraving: lettering and design, which was launched in 1985. In 1986, Peace started a partnership with artist Sally Scott. Peace and Scott went onto design the eight panels on the western porch of Westminster Abbey, and a further 25 commissions. These included engraved glass screens at St Botolph's Aldgate and the Church of St Peter, Great Berkhamsted. Laurence Whistler said of Peace's work with Scott, In 1990, Peace designed a set of glass doors for the Nave at Westminster Abbey. In 1990, he produced the book The Engraved Glass of David Peace, The Architecture of Lettering.

Town planning career After the war he joined Staffordshire County Council in 1948 as a town planner, where he stayed until 1961. He received the MBE in 1977 for his work in town and environmental planning, In 1979, Peace authored the Council for British Archaeology occasional paper "Historic buildings and planning policies" .

Personal life and other hobbies Peace married Jean Lawson, a Royal Academy trained artist, in 1939 and had two daughters.

Death and memorial Peace died on the 15 February 2003.

Sally Scott, Peace's design partner for 14 years added a dove to the glass partition that Peace designed at St Margaret's Church, Hemingford Abbots in memorial to Peace.

The Guild of Glass Engravers named an award, the David Peace Prize, for students based in the UK and overseas producing glasswork in memorial to Peace.