On the trail of Michael Paffard
In amongst the papers of Potteries artist John Shelton (1923-1993) I found a letter from a Michael Paffard. I have been meaning to follow up on it for a while now. While reading the Jack Simcock Autobiography, Mow Cop I happened to stumble across his name once more. It appears that Michael wrote for Arts Review as Jack Simcock dissects many of Michael’s reviews of his own work in his autobiography.
12.viii.83
Dear John –
It was good of you to invite me to the opening of your show… [I] have taken the first opportunity to renew acquaintance with your work today and enjoyed it immensely. I remember, too, with pleasure your oils in Keele Hall all those years ago with a sprig of Berrys amongst them.
Could I have No 33 Woman with Cat 2 please? If I’m too late for that I’d settle for one of the Drypoints No 15 War but hopefully I’ll enclose a cheque for £40.
Regards and all good wishes
Michael Paffard
I am curious as to which of the two of Shelton’s pieces Michael ended up with. For completeness, the catalogue from John Shelton’s 1983 retrospective at The Brampton is included below.
The cat paw-prints on the cover are apt given Shelton’s subject matter
Freddie Jones (actor) loaned work for the retrospective
finbofinbo 
Hi Mark. Hope the family have recovered from the trauma of the expedition? Probably telling you what you’ve already found, but Paffard was apparently a lecturer at Keele University, Dept of Education. Five books to his name on amazon etc, and in 1997 he writes the obituary of one of Keele’s Vice Chancellors – http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-professor-campbell-stewart-1261253.html. Looks like he had a particular interest in spirituality, religious experience etc. Argued that education should acknowledge the transcendental dimension. (Reminds you how far we’ve fallen in education since those relatively enlightened days …) But as I say, you’re probably ahead of me here. Anyway, Keele’s the link. Cheers, Richard.
Great stuff. Many thanks, Richard. I grabbed an hour in between the post-holiday chores to post the Michael Paffard letter prior to doing any serious digging around. I wasn’t quite ready to post the article in all honesty but got excited when I spotted his name kept cropping up in Jack Simcock’s autobiography (my holiday read). I thought I’d post first, then if there was any interest I could always flesh out the article later.
Michael Paffard was my elder brother. He died in 2000 at the age of 72. You can contact me if you have any specific questions but I may need to refer to his widow or children. I live in Sussex and have only ever been to Staffordshire as a visitor.
Hello I saw Michael’s name online somewhere He was a lecturer in English and education at Keele, whilst I was doing my PGCE there in 1980 but we shared an interest in pottery and he v kindly allowed me to use the ceramics facilities in the education dept out of hours. I have v fond memories of Mike, and am sorry to hear that he has died. He was the kind of man who leaves a good trace behind
Nick Wray
Hi Nick or Neil.. just reading your comments on the Death of Micheal Paffard,, at our auction house we have just had a collection of studio pottery marked paffard to the base, would this likely to be him,, any advise would be great, many thanks Jonathan
Dear Neil Paffard, and others in this interesting thread, I would be very interested to learn more about Michael Paffard, and, in particular, the research project which led to ‘Inglorious Wordsworths’. I am a Museum Curator (Director of the Garden Museum in London) but in my spare time am getting round to finishing a history of nostalgia, in which ‘Inglorious Wordsworths’ has a chapter. Editing, I realised I should know more about him – and what happened to the 222 responses to the questionnaire which forms the study. It’s a miraculous study. I would be grateful for any information, Christopher Woodward
Hello Tbh I have no idea whether this pottery would be by Mike Paffard It’s quite an uncommon name so it’s quite possible but nearly 40 yrs on I can’t even recall what any of his stuff looked like
Nick Wray