Thomas Percival Creed

He was born in Leicester, son of Rev Colin Creed, curate of St Peter's Church, Braunstone, Leicester and later rector at Farthinghoe, South Northamptonshire. His mother was Etheldreda Wright Spackman daughter of a medical practitioner.

From 1908 to 1915 he studied at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys in Leicester.[1]

In 1915 during World War I he joined the Artists Rifles, serving in France where he was wounded twice and won the MC in 1917.[1]

In 1919 he attended Pembroke College, Oxford obtaining a BA in 1922.[1]

After Oxford he joined the Sudan political service, where he read for the bar. In 1926 he became a district judge and in 1928 was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn. In 1931 he was seconded to the Iraqi and became a judge in Baghdad and held other positions in Kirkuk and Mosul. In 1935 he returned to Sudan as a high court judge in Khartoum, Chief Justice of Sudan (1935–1941) and Legal Secretary from 1941 to 1948. He was awarded the Order of the Nile in 1939, CBE in 1943 and KBE in 1946. In 1948 he retired form Sudan and took silk, but decide to continue with a career in education.[1]

He became secretary of King's College London in 1948 and principal of Queen Mary College in 1952. From 1964 to 1967 he was vice-chancellor of London University. His time there was a period of expansion but he managed to ensure the continued federal structure of the university.[1]

In 1928 he married (Agnes) Margaret Brewis of St Helens, Merseyside, (then in Lancashire). They had one son and two daughters.

He died at his home in Allen Street, Kensington, west London.[1]

• List of Vice-Chancellors of the University of London
• List of British university chancellors and vice-chancellors