James Mann

Sir James Gow Mann (23 September 1897 – 5 December 1962) was an eminent figure in the art world in the mid twentieth century, specialising in the study of armour.

Early life and education James Gow Mann was born in Norwood, London, the only son of Alexander Mann, the eminent Scottish landscape artist, and Catherine Macfarlane Gow. He was educated at Winchester College from 1911 until 1916 when he joined the Royal Artillery. He rose to the rank of major and was involved in the Battle of Passchendaele on the Western Front and the campaign in Northern Italy, notably the Battle of Vittorio Veneto.

After World War I, he undertook a degree (BA) in modern history at New College, Oxford. He continued his studies at New College, reading for a B.Litt, completing his thesis in 1922, The evolution of defensive armour in England, France and Italy during the first half of the 14th Century; an earlier interest in armour and armouries having been stimulated by visits to museums and collections in Italy while on leave from the army.

A copy of his thesis can be found in the Royal Armouries Archives along with other papers, drawings and photographs.

Career His first appointment upon leaving university in 1922 was as Assistant Keeper of the Department of Fine Art at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, where he stayed for two years working on the collection of the antiquary Francis Douce.

The post came with a Readership in the History of Art at the University of London but Mann realised that teaching was not his true vocation and, when the trustees of the Wallace Collection invited him back following the death of the keeper, Samuel Camp, he returned to Hertford House in 1936.

Mann was appointed Director of the Wallace Collection in 1946, a position he held until his death in 1962. In 1938, when Charles ffoulkes retired as Master of the Armouries at the Tower of London, Mann requested permission from the trustees of the Wallace Collection to apply for the post which was part time and virtually unpaid. He was successful in his application and worked as Master of the Armouries alongside his work at the Wallace Collection. Early on in the post, which again he held until his premature death, Mann had to arrange for the evacuation of the contents of the Armouries and virtually all of the Wallace Collection to various locations in Beaconsfield, Hertfordshire and Wales when World War II broke out.

In 1945, Mann was appointed Surveyor of the King’s, then the Queen’s Works of Art in 1952, and was instrumental in the opening of the Queen’s Gallery in 1962, the year of his death.

Mann worked as a historical advisor on Laurence Olivier's film of Henry V (1944), to ensure that the armour was portrayed accurately. He is said to have told Olivier that the apocryphal stories of armoured men being hoisted onto horseback by crane were indeed a fallacy, but Olivier overrode his advice and cranes were used in the film, thus immortalising the myth. Mann was described as an excellent committee man, constantly in demand.

Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order, New Year Honours List, 1957

Director (1944) then President of the Society of Antiquaries of London, 1949-1954

At various times he was, trustee of the British Museum and the College of Arms, a governor of the National Army Museum, chairman of the National Buildings Record, vice-chairman of Archbishop’s Historic Churches Preservation Trust, a member of the Royal Mint advisory committee, of the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, and of the Historic Buildings Council. Portuguese Art 800-1800 (1955-6) and British Portraits (1956-7).

Private life James Mann married twice; his first wife, Mary, with whom he had a daughter, died in 1956. In 1958, he married Evelyn Aimée Hughes, who survived him. Mann died in his London home in Westminster on 5 December 1962, aged 65.

Selected publications

European Arms and Armour; text with historical notes and illustrations, London : Wallace Collection. Printed for the Trustees by W. Clowes, 1962. An outline of arms and armour in England : from the early Middle Ages to the Civil War, London : H.M. Stationery Office, 1960 Monumental Brasses, (with John Griffiths), Harmondsworth, Middlesex : Penguin Books, 1957 The Etched Decoration of Armour : a study in classification, London : H. Milford, 1944 Catalogue of an exhibition of British Medieval Art, London, Private Print for the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1939 Art Treasures of Spain. Results of a visit by Sir Frederic Kenyon and Mr. James G. Mann. (The Prado Pictures. Salvage in Catalonia. By Sir F. Kenyon. How Spanish art treasures are being saved. By J. G. Mann.), Spain: Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, Embajada de España en Londres, London, 1937 Catalogue of an exhibition of Gothic Art in Europe (c. 1200-c. 1500), London, Private Print for the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1936 Sculpture : marbles, terra-cottas and bronzes, carvings in ivory and wood, plaquettes, medals, coins and wax-reliefs, text with historical notes and illustrations by J.G. Mann, 2nd edition, first published 1931, London : Wallace Collection, 1981