David Giffard
1931 – 2018
Love of Consciousness
In Memoriam
David Campbell Walter Giffard was born on 3rd November 1931 in St John’s Wood, London, son of Walter Campbell Giffard and Ethel Giffard. His mother came from a Jewish family, and his father from a blue blooded English family. His father, Walter Campbell Giffard, descended from Osbern Giffard, one of William the Conqueror’s Norman barons, who vanquished England in 1066. Ethel was the daughter of Felix Albu, the younger brother of Sir George and Leopold Albu.
David had two sisters called Barbara (Bowles) and Jane (Coleridge). He was sent off to prep school in Surrey before attending Rugby like his father. Tragically David lost his mother to cancer when he was 13 while away at boarding school.
After school he attended national service for 2 years as an officer. His uncle General George Giffard hoped that he might take to army life. However the army life was not for him and instead he applied for, and was accepted by, the Slade School of Art. David attended the Slade in the early 1950’s under William Coldstream.
He attended The Slade School of Art from 1951-1954 and met Judith Muriel, a fellow art student, whom he married in 1957. After graduating David entered the film business, working as an assistant director under Lindsey Anderson in the 1950s – 1970s.
David later worked for CIE in London supplying kitchens and working with developers and architects in London’s Docklands. During this time, and in the years to follow, David was able to fulfil his own creative expression in paintings and pottery, allowing his artistic nature to flourish. This creative exploration continued until his death.
In the 1950s David discovered the teachings of G.I Gurdjieff. He was a pupil of Mme Lannes for many years, and he remained a prominent member of the Gurdjieff Society until his death on 1st May 2018.
Gospel of St Thomas
Log 1-4
Let him who seeks, not cease seeking until
He finds, and when he finds he will be
Troubled and when he has been troubled
He will marvel and he will reign over the All.
Jesus said, if those who lead you say to you
‘See the Kingdom is in Heaven.’ Then the birds
Of the Heaven will proceed you. If they
Say to you ‘It is in the Sea’ Then the fish
Will proceed you. But the Kingdom of Heaven
Is within you and it is without you. If you
Will know yourselves, then you will be
Known and you will know that you are
The Sons of the Living Father.
Log 22
Jesus said to them
‘When you make the two one, and
When you make the inner as the outer
And the outer as the inner and the above
As the below, and when you make the male
And the female into a single one,
So that the male will not be male and
The female not be female. When you make
Eyes in the place of an eye and a hand
In place of a hand and the foot in the place
Of a foot and the truth in place of an illusion,
Then you shall enter the Kingdom .
If they say to you ‘Who are you?’ Say
‘We are his sons and we are the elect
Of the living Father’ if they ask you:
‘What is the sign of your Father in you?’
Say to them: ‘It is a movement and a rest’.
His disciples said to him:
‘When will the repose of
The dead come about and when
Will the new world come?’ He said to them
‘What you expect has come, but
You know it not’.
Log 65 – 68
Jesus said: ‘Whoever knows the All
But fails to know himself lacks everything.’
The Prayer of St Ignatius
Dearest lord, teach me to be generous
Teach me to serve You as I should
To give and not count the cost
To fight and not to heed the wounds
To toil and not to seek for rest
To labour and ask not for reward
Save that of knowing that I do Your most holy will
David Giffard 