Carl Winter (10 January 1906 – 21 May 1966) was a British art historian and museum curator. He worked at the

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

's collection of English watercolours and miniature portraits before moving to the

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...

in Cambridge in 1946 following the end of the Second World War.

Background

Winter was born in Melbourne, the son of Carl Winter and his wife Ethel (née Hardy). He was educated at

Xavier College Xavier College is a Roman Catholic, day and boarding school predominantly for boys, founded in 1872 by the Society of Jesus, with its main campus located in Kew, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Classes started in 1878. ...

and Newman College,

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

. He moved to England in 1928 and attended

Exeter College, Oxford (Let Exeter Flourish) , old_names = ''Stapeldon Hall'' , named_for = Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter , established = , sister_college = Emmanuel College, Cambridge , rector = Sir Richard Trainor ...

Career

Winter was appointed as an assistant keeper in the Departments of Engraving, Illustration and Design, and of Paintings, at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 1931, where he worked with Basil Long, leading the department after Long's death in 1936. He was appointed as deputy keeper there in 1945, but moved to become director and Morley Curator at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge in 1946, and also a fellow of

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, where he remained until his death in 1966. He published ''Elizabethan Miniatures'' in 1943 and ''The British School of Miniature Portrait Painters'' in 1948. Along with

Patrick Trevor-Roper Patrick Dacre Trevor-Roper (7 June 1916 – 22 April 2004) was a British eye surgeon, author and pioneer gay rights activist, who played a leading role in the campaign to decriminalise homosexuality in the UK. Life and career He was born in No ...

and

Peter Wildeblood Peter Wildeblood (19 May 1923 – 14 November 1999) was an Anglo-Canadian journalist, novelist, playwright and gay rights campaigner. He was one of the first men in the UK publicly to declare his homosexuality. Early life Peter Wildeblood was ...

, Winter gave evidence to the

Wolfenden Committee The Report of the Departmental Committee on Homosexual Offences and Prostitution (better known as the Wolfenden report, after Sir John Wolfenden, the chairman of the committee) was published in the United Kingdom on 4 September 1957 after a suc ...

, whose report led in 1967 to the decriminalization of sex between adult male homosexuals. He gave evidence anonymously as "Mr White". His testimony to the committee has been portrayed on-screen in the BBC dramatisation, ''

Consenting Adults In criminal law, consent may be used as an excuse and prevent the defendant from incurring liability for what was done. Defences against criminal liability A defence against criminal liability may arise when a defendant can argue that, becaus ...

''.

Personal life and death

Winter married Theodora (''née'' Barlow) in 1936 and divorced in 1953. They had two sons and a daughter. He died age 60 on 21 May 1966.

References

External links

Carl Winter
Trinity College Chapel
WINTER, Carl
''Who Was Who'', A & C Black, 1920–2015; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014 ; online edn, April 2014 {{DEFAULTSORT:Winter, Carl 1906 births 1966 deaths English curators 20th-century English LGBT people