Frank Peard

Frank Peard (1919 - 2019) was an Irish badminton player who played for Ireland internationally in the 1940s and 1950s.

Frank Peard
Personal information
Birth name	Francis Woodley Peard
Born	5 October 1919
Died	22 September 2019 (aged 100) Mount Hybla Nursing Home, Dublin

Early life and family

Frank Peard was born in 1919.[1] Having lived in Mountmellick, County Laois, Peard's family moved to Listowel, County Kerry in 1932. Peard attended St Michael's secondary school in Listowel.[2]

He married fellow badminton player, Susan Devlin, in 1960. They had two children, Mark and Pam.[1]

Badminton career

Peard began playing badminton at around age 9 or 10. He joined the Ailesbury Badminton Club in the early 1940s, where he partnered with Ham Lambert and Mrs Eileen Goulding. Along with Raymund Egan, Dick Bell, Colin Maidment and Geoff Trapnell, Peard was a co-founder of The Knights Badminton Club in 1946. Peard cited his study of David Guthrie Freeman's singles games as greatly improving his own game in the late 1940s.[2] Between 1946 and 1957, Peard played for Ireland in badminton 20 times. He won 3 Irish Open titles, 16 Irish Close titles, and 6 Scottish titles. Peard played in two All-England semi-finals, playing alongside Noel Radford and Jim FitzGibbon. He played at European badminton tournaments with FitzGibbon. In 1948 he played in the first match of the inaugural Thomas Cup, playing against Denmark.[1][3]

He was a keen promoter of badminton in Ireland, taking part and organising many exhibition events. Peard had a long coaching career, and was invited to speak at the 1985 World Coaching Conference in Calgary. He served on the Executive Committee of the Leinster Branch, overseeing the move of the branch to new premises at the Terenure Centre, Whitehall Road in 1954. Peard served as the Director of the European Championships when they came to Dublin in 1976. He was also involved in the establishment of the Badminton Museum of Ireland, donating funds and objects to the museum.[1]

Peard wrote a number of publications on the history of badminton:

• Sixty Years of Irish Badminton (1995)
• A Century of Irish Badminton: A supplement to Sixty Years of Irish Badminton (2004)
• Building the Badminton Hall (1954)
• The Midland Branch (1961)
• Reorganisation of the B.U.I. (1966)
• A Policy and its Implementation (1966)
• M.B.B.U.I. (1967)
• Badminton in Holland (1969)
• Improving the Performance of Irish Badminton Teams (1970)
• Conditions for Progress (1976)[1]

Achievements

Year	Tournament	Event	Winner
1948	Scottish Open	Men's doubles	Frank Peard / T. L. Henry
1948	Irish Open	Men's doubles	Frank Peard / Noel Radford
1949	Scottish Open	Men's doubles	Frank Peard / T. L. Henry
1949	Scottish Open	Men's singles	Frank Peard
1949	Irish National Badminton Championships	Men's doubles	Frank Peard / James FitzGibbon
1950	North of England Championships	Men's singles	Frank Peard
1950	Irish National Badminton Championships	Men's singles	Frank Peard
1950	Irish National Badminton Championships	Mixed	Frank Peard / B. I. Donaldson
1950	Irish Open	Men's singles	Frank Peard
1950	Scottish Open	Men's singles	Frank Peard
1950	Irish Open	Men's doubles	Frank Peard / James FitzGibbon
1950	Irish National Badminton Championships	Men's doubles	Frank Peard / James FitzGibbon
1951	Irish National Badminton Championships	Men's singles	Frank Peard
1951	Irish National Badminton Championships	Mixed	Frank Peard / B. I. Donaldson
1951	Irish National Badminton Championships	Men's doubles	Frank Peard / James FitzGibbon
1951	Scottish Open	Men's singles	Frank Peard
1951	Scottish Open	Men's doubles	Frank Peard / James FitzGibbon
1952	Irish National Badminton Championships	Men's doubles	Frank Peard / James FitzGibbon
1952	Irish National Badminton Championships	Mixed	Frank Peard / B. I. Donaldson
1952	Irish National Badminton Championships	Men's singles	Frank Peard
1953	Irish National Badminton Championships	Mixed	Frank Peard / B. I. Donaldson
1953	Irish National Badminton Championships	Men's singles	Frank Peard
1953	Irish National Badminton Championships	Men's doubles	Frank Peard / James FitzGibbon
1954	Irish National Badminton Championships	Men's doubles	Frank Peard / James FitzGibbon
1954	Irish Open	Men's doubles	Frank Peard / James FitzGibbon
1955	Irish National Badminton Championships	Mixed	Frank Peard / B. I. Donaldson
1955	Irish National Badminton Championships	Men's doubles	Frank Peard / James FitzGibbon
1961	Irish National Badminton Championships	Men's doubles	Frank Peard / James FitzGibbon
1962	Irish National Badminton Championships	Men's doubles	Frank Peard / James FitzGibbon

Career

Outside of badminton, Peard worked for Guinness in Dublin from 1939 until his retirement in 1981. He initially worked Accountant’s Department. He spent 18 months in the United States studying, and during this time he wrote for The Irish Times and the Irish Management Institute on business matters.[4] One such article for The Irish Times entitled "How to Get There: An Emigrant's to New York" was a guide to new Irish arrivals to the city.[5] After his return to Dublin he became Assistant Chief Accountant, later Director of Guinness in 1972, and finally in 1977 he became Deputy Managing Director of Guinness Ireland. He became a Trustee of the Iveagh Trust in 1981. In 1993 he became the first non-member of the Guinness family to serve as Chairman of the Trust.[4]

Peard died at Mount Hybla Nursing Home, Dublin on 22 September 2019.[1][4]

External Links

http://www.badmintonmuseumireland.ie/

References

1. O'Rafferty, Dick (23 September 2019). "Frank Peard – An Appreciation". Badminton Ireland. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
2. Peard, F.W. (1995). Sixty Years of Badminton. Dublin. pp. 1, 5, 12, 19.
3. Adams, Bernard (1980). The Badminton Story. London: BBC. p. 102. ISBN 0563164654.
4. "Francis Woodley Peard, 1919 – 2019 | The Iveagh Trust | Housing Association & Approved Housing Body, Dublin, Ireland". Retrieved 2020-04-22.
5. Brown, Terence (2015). The Irish Times : 150 years of influence. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 232. ISBN 978-1-4729-1906-9. OCLC 904268506.