Thomas Ashby (archaeologist)
Thomas Ashby | |
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John Linton Myres |
Thomas Ashby,
Family
He was the only child of Thomas Ashby (1851–1906), and his wife, Rose Emma, daughter of Apsley Smith. His father belonged to the well-known
Appearance and manner
Stocky in figure, he had a tall and forceful head and a neat beard (first red and later white). His English and Italian were both equally brusque (
Life
Early life
Ashby was educated initially at
Understanding of the city of Rome was then being transformed by a series of excavations, including renewed work on the Roman forum (started under
The British School at Rome
Appointment
Ashby enrolled in January 1902 as the first student of the
Trying to make the British School at Rome a focus for archaeological research in the western Mediterranean, Ashby appointed as associate student of the BSR
World War I and after
With the support of the British ambassador Sir
Moving to the British Red Cross headquarters in Genoa from late 1917 to spring 1918 after the Italian defeat at the battle of Caporetto, Ashby then moved to Rome as an education officer (lecturing on ancient Rome to the troops), and only resumed his role as director of the school in spring 1919. On his return, he and Strong had immediately to restart the school's work on the sculpture catalogue which Stuart Jones had begun, though Ashby still managed to return to Malta in March 1921 to work with Themistocles Zammit at Hal-Tarxien (in work published in the Antiquaries Journal (1924) and to continue his interest in prehistory by collaborating with Peet and H. Thurlow Leeds on an essay on the western Mediterranean for The Cambridge Ancient History (1924).
On his return from Malta in spring 1921, Ashby met Caroline May, eldest daughter of the civil engineer Richard Price-Williams and cousin of Walter Ashburner (an old friend of Ashby's with links to the British Institute of Florence), working in the school library. The couple married on 20 July 1921 and, though they had no children, Caroline began to take over Strong's role as hostess at the school, straining relations between them. In 1924 the BSR executive committee decided to only renew Strong's and Ashby's appointments until 1925, when Mrs Strong would reach retirement age at sixty-five. General shock greeted the decision, with Rennell Rodd writing in late November 1924:
- "almost everyone I meet deplores the decision … In spite of Ashby's eccentricities he had the regard of all the Italian archaeologists and they are all very much upset at his going. In his own particular line he is considered one of the greatest authorities and his collections and maps which have been at the disposal of students are almost unique in their way.[4] "
Retirement and death
Ashby settled in Rome after his enforced retirement and set to work completing "Some Italian scenes and festivals" (1929, a work dedicated to his wife, which also appeared in 1995 in a revised edition as "Sagre e feste d'Abruzzo"), a revision of the second part of W. J. Anderson and R. P. Spiers's 1902 "The architecture of Greece and Rome" (1927), and a revised edition of Samuel B. Platner's "Topographical dictionary of ancient Rome" (1929).[5] He also carried out lecture tours of Australia (having first visited in 1914) and – in 1926 – he embarked of North America (the latter in conjunction with the Archaeological Institute of America).
Ashby's health seems to have declined in this period, including deteriorating eyesight. Elected in 1930 to a senior research studentship at Christ Church, Oxford, he returned to England to fulfil the post's residence requirements. However, on his way to
Studies
Topography
Caerwent
Haverfield also encouraged and supported Ashby in gaining excavation experience at the Roman town of Caerwent in south Wales as part of the Caerwent Exploration Fund (1899–1910, 1913), presided over by Lord Tredegar and initiated by the Clifton Antiquarian Club. Ashby, Alfred E. Hudd and A. Trice Martin, an assistant master at Clifton College, all worked on the project, with Ashby contributing to the annual reports published in Archaeologia (1901–7, 1909–11).
Memberships
Ashby was a member of the German Archaeological Institute (1913), of the Pontificia Accademia Romana d'Archeologia (1914); a foreign member of the Reale Accademia dei Lincei (1918); an honorary associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (1922); an honorary member of the Reale Accademia di San Luca (1925); and a fellow of the Reale Società Romana di Storia Patria (1923), and of the British Academy (1927).
References
- ^ "Thomas Ashby". Archived from the original on 10 November 2014. Retrieved 19 October 2014.
- ^ R. Hodges, Visions of Rome: Thomas Ashby, archaeologist, 2000, 6
- ISBN 0904152340.
- ^ R. Hodges, Visions of Rome: Thomas Ashby, archaeologist, 2000, p79
- ^ Samuel Ball Platner; Thomas Ashby (1973). A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome. University Microfilms.
- ^ A. H. Smith, 'Thomas Ashby, 1874–1931', PBA, 17 (1931), page 521
- ^ Thomas Ashby (1902). The Classical Topography of the Roman Campagna. British School at Rome.
- ISBN 978-1-57898-854-9.