{{Short description|British poet (1933–2022)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Peter Scupham''' (24 February 1933 – 11 June 2022) was a British poet.
==Early life and education==
Scupham was born in Bootle on 24 February 1933 to John and Dorothy Scupham.<ref name="GuardianObit">{{cite web |last1=Powell |first1=Neil |title=Peter Scupham obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jun/19/peter-scupham-obituary |website=The Guardian |access-date=19 June 2022 |date=19 June 2022}}</ref> The family moved to Cambridgeshire and he was educated at the Perse School, Cambridge, and St George's School, Harpenden.<ref name="GuardianObit" /> After National Service with the RAOC, he studied at Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
==Career and marriage==
He taught at Skegness Grammar School, and then became head of English at St. Christopher School, Letchworth.<ref name="Times_obit">{{cite news |title=Prolific poet, bookseller and inspiring schoolteacher |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/peter-scupham-89-prolific-poet-bookseller-and-inspiring-schoolteacher-6hw89hhfd |access-date=24 September 2023 |work=The Times |date=30 July 2022}}</ref> His first marriage was to Carola Nance Braunholtz, a classics teacher, with whom he had four children.<ref name="Times_obit"/> His second wife was Margaret Steward.<ref name="Times_obit"/> Together they restored a small derelict Elizabethan Manor house in Norfolk, where they put on plays and created a garden.<ref name="Times_obit"/> Simon Jenkins included the house in ''England's Thousand Best Homes''.<ref name="Times_obit"/>
===Theatre===
Scupham and Steward started a theatrical company, Phoebus Car.<ref name="Times_obit"/> Some of its members went on to careers on the stage.<ref name="Times_obit"/>
===Small press===
With John Mole he founded The Mandeville Press, a small press using traditional letterpress methods of printing.<ref name="Times_obit"/> The Press produced hand-set editions of work by Geoffrey Grigson, Anthony Hecht, John Fuller, K. W. Gransden, and many others.<ref name="Times_obit"/> Its archive is now in the British Library.
===Bookselling===
For many years he ran an antiquarian book business - Mermaid Books - with Steward, specialising in English Literature, and trading by printed catalogue.<ref name="Times_obit"/> ''The Times'' described the "witty and erudite catalogues that became collection pieces in themselves".<ref name="Times_obit"/> From 2020 onwards, Mermaid Books appeared to be in hiatus, and is now no longer trading.<ref>[http://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?owner_id=678 "Peter Scupham"] at Carcanet.</ref>
===Poetry===
He was able to see proofs of his final volume shortly before he died. Scupham died on 11 June 2022, at the age of 89.<ref name="GuardianObit" />
==Awards and honours== * 1990 Elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.rslit.org/content/fellows|title = Royal Society of Literature All Fellows|publisher = Royal Society of Literature|accessdate = 10 August 2010|url-status = dead|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20100305070326/http://www.rslit.org/content/fellows|archivedate = 5 March 2010}}</ref> * 1996 Cholmondeley Award * 2009 A portrait of Scupham by photographer Jemimah Kuhfeld was acquired by the National Portrait Gallery, London for its permanent collection.<ref>{{cite web |title=NPG x134344; Peter Scupham - Portrait - National Portrait Gallery |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw200551 |website=National Portrait Gallery, London |access-date=20 June 2022}}</ref>
==Works== * {{cite book| title=Invitation to View | location = Manchester | publisher=Carcanet Press, Limited | year=2022 | isbn = 978-1-80017-210-4}} * {{cite book| title=Borrowed Landscapes |location = Manchester| publisher=Carcanet Press, Limited| year=2011| isbn = 978-1-84777-080-6}} * {{cite book| title=Collected Poems |location = Manchester | publisher=Carcanet Press, Limited| year=2003| isbn=978-1-903039-57-1 }} * {{cite book| title=Night Watch| publisher=Anvil Press Poetry| year=1999| isbn=978-0-85646-319-8 }} * {{cite book| title=The Ark| publisher=Oxford University Press| year=1994| isbn=978-0-19-282337-3| url=https://archive.org/details/ark00scup}} * {{cite book| title=Selected Poems, 1972-1990| publisher=Oxford University Press| year=1990| isbn=978-0-19-282762-3 }} * {{cite book| title=Watching the Perseids| publisher=Oxford University Press| year=1990| isbn=978-0-19-282785-2 }} * {{cite book| title=Air Show | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=1988 | isbn=978-0-19-282206-2 | url=https://archive.org/details/airshow00scup }} * {{cite book| title=Out Late| publisher=Oxford University Press| year=1986| isbn=978-0-19-281973-4| url=https://archive.org/details/outlate00scup}} * {{cite book| title=Winter Quarters| publisher=Oxford University Press| year=1983| isbn=978-0-19-211957-5 }} * {{cite book| title=Summer Palaces| publisher=Oxford University Press| year=1980| isbn=978-0-19-211932-2 }} * {{cite book| title=The Hinterland| publisher=Oxford University Press| year=1977| isbn=978-0-19-211871-4| url=https://archive.org/details/hinterland00scup}} * {{cite book| title=Prehistories| publisher=Oxford University Press| year=1975| isbn=9780192118462| url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/prehistories0000scup}} * {{cite book| title=The Snowing Globe|location = Manchester| publisher=E. J. Morten | year=1972| isbn=978-0-901598-42-4 }}
===Editor=== * {{cite book| title=Ovid's Metamorphoses: a selection| author=Ovid| editor=Peter Scupham| others=Translator Arthur Golding| publisher=Carcanet Press |location = Manchester| year=2005| isbn=978-1-85754-776-4 }}
===Anthologies=== * {{cite book| chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7dFohviLlOkC&dq=Peter+Scupham&pg=PA1154| chapter=Guard-Room| title=The Wadsworth anthology of poetry|editor=Jay Parini| publisher=Cengage Learning| year=2005| isbn=978-1-4130-0473-1 }} * {{cite book| title=Oxford poets 2001: an anthology| url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordpoets2001a0000unse| url-access=registration|editor1=David Constantine |editor2=Hermione Lee |editor3=Bernard O'Donoghue| publisher=Carcanet| year=2001| isbn=978-1-903039-52-6 }}
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Scupham, Peter}} Category:1933 births Category:2022 deaths Category:Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge Category:British male poets Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Category:Poets from Liverpool