1800s
1800s
George Thomas Clark (1809-1898)
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1866;. Council 1880, 1881, 1884, 1885. Plan of Cardiff Castle, by Clark (1884)
G. T. Clark, engineer, ironmaster and antiquary, is best known in archaeological circles for his scholarly work on castles, the numerous papers that appeared in a variety of journals before being brought together in his Mediaeval Military Architecture (1884). As well as being the founder of modern castle studies, he published much on the local history of Glamorgan. Elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries 1866;. Council 1880, 1881, 1884, 1885.
John Romilly Allen (1847-1907)
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John Romilly Allen
From a landed Welsh family of some distinction, Romilly Allen brought sculptured stones to the public eye with his comparison of Celtic art in Wales and Ireland. In 1878, Allen published a short paper on ‘Interlaced Crosses’, beginning his life-long interest in ornament of this type. He made notable advances in the study of sculpture as a whole, and placed Welsh decorative sculpture on an international stage. His research culminated in the magisterial The Early Christian Monuments of Scotland (1903).
Elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries 1896
Sir Cyril Fox (1882-1967)
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Sir Cyril Fox
Educated at Magdalene College Cambridge, Cyril Fox became Keeper of Archaeology at the National Museum of Wales in 1924 and swiftly became its long-term Director (1926-48).
A meticulous fieldworker and prolific author, his work on Offa’s Dyke and the Iron Age metalwork from Llyn Cerrig Bach were inspirational. In later life, he published works on Bronze Age burials and Early Celtic Art in Britain.
Elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries 1923; Council 1930; President 1944-9.
Rev. Harry Longueville Jones (1806-1870)
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Elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries 1841. After stays in Paris and Manchester, Harry Longueville Jones, who had been ordained as a priest, moved to Beaumaris on Anglesey. He founded the still running journal Archaeologia Cambrensis in 1846 (with the Rev. John Williams, better known as ‘Ab Ithel’). As a founder and parent of the Cambrian Archaeological Association, he did much to promote the wider understanding of the archaeology and history of Wales. Apart from numerous papers, his publications include his Illustrated History of Carnarvonshire.
Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler (1890-1976)
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Wheeler showing Lady Lloyd George around Segontium.
One of the best-known archaeologists of the twentieth century. Appointed Keeper of Archaeology at the National Museum of Wales in 1920 and became its Director (1924-6). Undertook excavations at Segontium and Y Gaer, Brecon Roman forts and the Amphithetare at Caerleon.
From 1926 to 1944 he was Keeper and Secretary of the London Museum. He was the driving force behind the creation in 1934 of London University’s new Institute of Archaeology.
He carried out many major excavations in Great Britain – such as Maiden Castle, Dorset and Verulamium Roman city – and was Director General of the Archaeological Survey of India. As a television and radio broadcaster he brought archaeology to a mass audience. He was knighted in 1952 for his services to archaeology.
Elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries 1922; Council 1926; Vice-President 1935-9; Secretary 1939-40; Director 1940-4, 1949-54; President 1954-9; Gold Medal 1944.
Victor Erle Nash-Williams (1897-1955)
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Nash-Williams at Caerleon
Nash-Williams’s chief interests were the Roman and ‘Early Christian’ periods. Appointed Assistant Keeper in Archaeology at the National Museum of Wales in 1924, two years later he succeeded Sir Cyril Fox as Keeper and lecturer in Archaeology at University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire. He is best known for his excavations at Roman Caerleon and on the defences of Roman Caerwent. His publications include The Roman Frontier in Wales (1954) and his ‘masterpiece’, the pioneering study of Early Christian Monuments (1950).
Elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries 1930.
John Ward (1856-1922)
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Ward at Tinkinswood about 1915
John Ward was curator of Cardiff’s Municipal Museum, and soon after the formation of the National Museum of Wales he became Keeper of the Department of Archaeology (1912-22). His excavations of the Roman fort of Gelligaer and the medieval castle of Castell Morgraig, and the publication of this work, were exemplary by the standards of the day.
Elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries 1893.