David Randall Pye, 1886-1960

Abstract David Randall Pye, who died on 20 February 1960, was a scientist and an engineer, although he spent most of his life in government and university administration to which he was called at critical times. From the age of thirty-nine to fifty-seven he devoted himself to building up the scientific research organization of the Air Ministry, at a time when aeronautical developments were so vital to our country’s survival; from fifty-seven until his retirement at sixty-five, he undertook the task, as Provost, of re-establishing University College, London, which had suffered severe blows from the enemy’s air attack. Had there been no war he would almost certainly have spent his life in engineering science, probably in a university, and would have made many more original contributions of the same high quality as those of his earlier years. But although he thus sacrificed his personal research for his country’s needs, he undoubtedly did so partly because of his intense interest in human affairs and in people. He was not by any means a born administrator, or an ambitious organizer, but his wide talents, simple integrity and high standards, enabled him to achieve real success in the administrative work he undertook. Pye was born on 29 April 1886 at Hampstead, London. His early life was spent in the atmosphere of a country home not far from London where he lived with his parents, three brothers and three sisters, David being the sixth in the family. He was a descendant of John Pye of the Mynde, County Hereford, and Anne, daughter of Roger Andrews of Hereford, through their son, Walter Pye of Kilpeck Castle. Another branch of the family, the Edmund Pyes, lived at Blyth, Nottinghamshire, one of whom had a grant of arms from Sir Richard St George, Clarenceux King at Arms, 2 March 1633-1634.