Owen Frampton; art-teacher father of...
Hyfler/Rosner
...Peter Frampton whose pupils also included the future
David Bowie
18 October 2005
Owen Gordon Frampton, art teacher: born London 6 April 1919;
married 1941 Peggy ffitch (two sons); died Hawkhurst, Kent
16 September 2005.
Owen Frampton was an inspirational teacher who encouraged
his son Peter Frampton to become a rock star and was an
influence on the early career of David Bowie. He gave Peter
his first guitar lessons and taught Bowie art - when the boy
who became Ziggy Stardust was still "David Jones".
Bowie and Frampton were both pupils at Beckenham Technical
School in Bromley, Kent, where Frampton père was head of an
extensive art department. While his wartime record as an
officer in the Royal Artillery contrasted with his work as a
teacher, in both roles he was a noted for his compassion and
devotion to duty.
Known as "Mr Frampton" or "Ossie" to generations of pupils,
Owen Frampton was born in Kennington, London, in 1919. His
father was a Royal Navy submariner based at Chatham, Kent;
the Frampton family moved from south London to Sheerness to
be closer to the naval dockyard. Before the Second World
War, Frampton was educated in Beckenham, where he met his
future wife, Peggy ffitch, at the age of 13. He later
studied for a degree at Goldsmiths' College in New Cross,
intending to become a teacher. He played guitar in the
college dance band.
After the outbreak of war in 1939 he joined the Army and
became a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery. He married Peggy
at St John's Church, Eden Park, in 1941. Their marriage
lasted 64 years, but after a five-day honeymoon they would
not see each other again for five years.
During the war Frampton saw action as a gunner in North
Africa, in Sicily and at Monte Cassino in Italy. In 1945 he
stayed on in Austria, and was involved in the repatriation
of Russian prisoners of war. However, as White Russians they
had fought on the side of the Germans and faced a grim
future if returned to the Soviet Union. Peter Frampton says:
My father had been put in charge of the Russian prisoners.
He got to know them well and didn't care what country they
came from. He put on concerts and shows and looked after
them. Then he was ordered to send a trainload of White
Russians back to Russia. When the empty train came back, the
carriages were stained with blood. The prisoners, including
women and children, had killed themselves, because they knew
what fate awaited them. At that point my father resigned and
said he would not send another train back. Many years later
he was interviewed on BBC radio about what had been one of
the great secrets of the war.
In 1946 Frampton came home to England and studied in the
evenings at Beckenham Art School while teaching design,
lithography, printing, photography, ceramics and painting at
Beckenham Technical School. He was still studying when his
son Peter was born in April 1950. He became head of an
expanded art department as the school moved from Beckenham
to Bromley. His pre-Diploma course enabled many pupils to go
straight to art college.
His son Peter went to the Technical High School for a year
before moving on to Bromley Grammar:
My father was very good at finding the passion for art
within his students. One of his pupils, George Underwood,
became a painter and designed three David Bowie album
covers, Space Oddity, Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust.
David and George encouraged Peter to play guitar in their
group:
It was 1962 and I was 12 years old. My dad had taught me my
first guitar chords. He used to leave the art-block door
open so we could bring our guitars in and play Buddy Holly
songs.
David Bowie recalls Owen Frampton as
an excellent art teacher and an inspiration . . . Most of
his pupils went on to art school and I went to an
advertising agency as a designer.
However, Peter had some problems being at the same school as
his father:
I didn't enjoy calling him "Sir". My younger brother Clive
stayed at the school for five years, but I left after a
fracas with one of the pupils my dad didn't get on with. I
was beaten up after school. That's why I was sent to Bromley
Grammar, although David and George stayed on. When David saw
me on Top of the Pops with my first group, the Herd, he
shouted: "That's Peter - he should be at school!"
My dad was my first manager. When the Herd asked me to join,
he said, "If Peter worked at the post office he'd get £15 a
week. So he should get the same in the Herd." As it turned
out the band earned a lot more but I still only got my £15.
Dad didn't think about that. I got rid of him as my manager
after that!
Mr and Mrs Frampton went to see their son perform many times
when he became a star with Humble Pie and a highly
successful solo artist. In 1976, Frampton Comes Alive sold
12 million copies and was hailed as the biggest-selling
"live" album of all time. Peter invited his parents to
America and, when Owen retired aged 60, they lived near
their son in New York State.
After five years, however, they returned to live in Sussex.
Owen Frampton became ill in his last years but stayed in
touch with his former pupils as well as his sons Peter and
Clive, who sang a specially composed tribute song, "Not
Forgotten", at his memorial service.
Chris Welch