John Piper (artist) Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Early life=== John Piper was born in [[Epsom]], [[Surrey]], the youngest of three sons of the solicitor Charles Alfred Piper and his wife Mary Ellen Matthews.<ref name="ODNBjp">{{cite book|editor= H. C. G. Matthew & Brian Harrison |publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2004|title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Vol. 44 (Phelps-Poston)|isbn=0-19-861394-6}}</ref> Charles Alfred Piper's father, Charles Christmas Piper, had taken over the family bootmaking business, and was also a partner in a printing and stationery company.<ref>John Piper, Anthony West, Secker & Warburg, 1979, p. 14</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://eehe.org.uk/?p=25664|title=John Piper (John Egerton Christmas Piper), CH 1903β92|work=Epsom & Ewell History Explorer|access-date=17 September 2020}}</ref> During Piper's childhood, Epsom was still largely countryside. He went exploring on his bicycle and drew and painted pictures of old churches and monuments on the way. He started making guide books complete with pictures and information at a young age. Piper's brothers both served in the [[First World War]] and one of them was killed at [[Ypres]] in 1915.<ref name="ODNBjp"/> [[File:The Passage to the Control-room at South West Regional Headquarters, Bristol (Art. IWM ART LD 170).jpg|thumb|''The Passage to the Control-room at South West Regional Headquarters, Bristol'' (Art. IWM ART LD 170)]] John Piper attended [[Epsom College]] from 1919. He did not like the college but found refuge in art. When he left Epsom College in 1922, Piper published a book of poetry and wanted to study to become an artist. However, his father disagreed and insisted he join the family law firm, Piper, Smith & Piper in [[Westminster]]. Piper worked beside his father in London for three years, and took [[articles of clerkship|articles]], but refused the offer of a partnership in the firm. This refusal cost Piper his inheritance but left him free to attend [[Richmond School of Art]]. At Richmond, the artist [[Raymond Coxon]] prepared Piper for the entrance exams for the [[Royal College of Art]], which he entered in 1928. While studying at Richmond, Piper met Eileen Holding, a fellow student, whom he married in August 1929.<ref name="ODNBjp"/> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page