Peter Bernard David de la Mare (3 September 1920 – 13 December 1989) was a New Zealand physical organic chemist. Born in Hamilton in 1920, he was the son of Sophia Ruth de la Mare (née Child), a medical practitioner, and Frederick Archibald de la Mare, a lawyer. He was educated at Hamilton High School, and then attended Victoria University College, from where he graduated in 1942 with an MSc in chemistry, winning the Shirtcliffe Fellowship and the Jacob Joseph Scholarship. His master's research was supervised by Philip Robertson. He worked at the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in the agricultural department at Wellington and Ruakura, before undertaking PhD studies at University College London between 1946 and 1948, supervised by Christopher Ingold.