STANLEY SPENCER - Key Persons


Amanda Bradley Petitgas

Amanda Bradley Petitgas is an art historian who specialises in Stanley Spencer. Whilst working as a paintings and sculpture curator at the National Trust, she curated Stanley Spencer: Heaven in a Hell of War at Somerset House and Pallant House, which exhibited Spencer's works from Sandham Memorial Chapel. She now chairs the Stanley Spencer Gallery Exhibitions Committee, and curates many of the exhibitions at the Gallery, including Patron Saints: Collecting Stanley Spencer (2018). She has been a Trustee since 2016. Since graduating from the Courtauld Institute of Art (MA, 2002) she has worked at the University of Cambridge, the National Gallery and for the National Trust. She has published on sixteenth-century Venice, Rubens, the history of collecting and Modern British art. She is a co-founder and Chair of the Athena Art Foundation, a public education charity which promotes the understanding of pre-modern art.

Andrew de Mille

Andy de Mille first became a Trustee in 2009, with responsibility for loans for exhibitions. The following year he curated the Summer Exhibition, "Stanley and the First Mrs Spencer". He was then Chair of the Management Committee from 2011 until 2016, when he stepped down from all Gallery involvement to devote time to family (arrival of first grandchildren), painting and other interests. He returned to the Gallery as a Trustee in 2019, with responsibility for loans and lender relationships.

Chris Brown

Chris Brown has a career in the hospitality industry as Managing Director of restaurant companies and 20 years consulting on visitor attractions' commercial operations throughout the UK. He is a non-executive director of the Holkham Estate in Norfolk. A Cookham resident for more than 25 years, Chris is particularly keen to foster links with the local community who play such a valuable role as Custodians, Friends and Management Committee - all on a voluntary basis.

Clare Mitchell

Clare Mitchell has over 20 years of professional experience working in the museums sector as a collections management specialist. Following a degree in Art and Design History and an MA in Museum Studies, Clare started her career as Registrar at Southampton City Art Gallery where she also became the Exhibitions and Marketing Manager. After 8 years, she moved to become Registrar of Collections and Assistant Curator at the Palace of Westminster where she stayed for a further 8 years. After 2 years as Collections Manager at Hampshire Cultural Trust, Clare knew she had the skills, knowledge and passion to help others with the practicalities and pressures of looking after a collection. Clare was appointed Registrar of the Stanley Spencer Gallery in 2017 and became a Trustee in 2021.

Dr Scot McKendrick

Job Titles:
  • Trustee
  • Head of Western Heritage Collections at the British Library
Scot McKendrick has served as a Trustee since 2004 and Chair of Trustees since 2017. He was invited to join the trustees on account of his extensive professional experience in the cultural and heritage sectors. Scot is an Expert Adviser to the UK Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art, member of the Executive Board of the Consortium of European Research Libraries, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, membre étranger associé of the Académie Royale d'Archéologie de Belgique and Trustee of Britten-Pears Arts. He has led several research projects with international partners and been a member of various research and editorial boards. From 2006 to 2016 he was a Trustee of the Sir Winston Churchill Archive Trust. Scot is currently Head of Western Heritage Collections at the British Library. He joined the Library in 1986 after reading Greats at Oxford and undertaking postgraduate research at the Courtauld Institute of Art. He is the author of numerous publications on manuscripts and medieval art.

Faith Gibbon

Job Titles:
  • Artist

Patricia Preece

Job Titles:
  • Artist

Peter Brown

Job Titles:
  • Security Manager After Retiring from the Metropolitan Police
Peter Brown joined the management team at the Stanley Spencer Gallery in 2010 as Security Manager after retiring from the Metropolitan Police. Over time he took on responsibility for managing the building and its equipment and in 2017 was invited to become a Trustee. Peter continues to be responsible for the building and its security and additionally, assists the Exhibition Committee with the hanging process of new exhibitions.

Richard Carline

Job Titles:
  • Artist

William Astor

Job Titles:
  • Trustee
  • Chairman of Silvergate Media Ltd
William Astor is Chairman of Silvergate Media Ltd , a media and intellectual property company with offices in London, New York and Beijing. William served as a Minister in the Governments of Prime Ministers Margaret Thatcher and John Major from 1990 to 1997, was Conservative Opposition Spokesman from 1997 to 2011 and currently sits in Parliament in the House of Lords as a Conservative Peer. William has been a Trustee since 1974. His father was one of the three founding trustees.