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Biography
Augustus Dudley Peters (1892–1973) was a British literary agent. Born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, the fourth of the seven children of a farmer, he was informally adopted at the age of 3 by an aunt who lived in England and was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School in Hampstead and St. John's College, Cambridge. After working as a magazine editor and drama critic, he started a literary agency in 1924 and subsequently represented many leading writers including Hilaire Belloc, J.B. Priestley, Evelyn Waugh, Arthur Koestler, Kingsley Amis, Rebecca West. From 1959 onwards, the agency became a partnership and was gradually enlarged. He retired in 1972 and died a few months later.
After Peters' death, the agency merged with Fraser and Dunlop Agency to produce Peters, Fraser & Dunlop, which in 1999 became PFD, with offices in London and New York City. After a time under the ownership of CSS Stellar PLC, it was bought in June 2008 by a consortium led by Andrew Neil, but not before most leading agents had walked out to form United Agents.