Editing Mortimer Wheeler (section)

===Childhood: 1890–1907===
Mortimer Wheeler was born on 10 September 1890 in the city of [[Glasgow]], Scotland.{{sfnm|1a1=Piggott|1y=1977|1p=623|2a1=Hawkes|2y=1982|2p=15}} He was the first child of the journalist Robert Mortimer Wheeler and his second wife Emily Wheeler ({{nee}} Baynes).{{sfn|Hawkes|1982|p=15}}

The son of a tea merchant based in [[Bristol]], in youth Robert had considered becoming a [[Baptist]] minister, but instead became a staunch [[Freethought|freethinker]] while studying at the [[University of Edinburgh]]. Initially working as a lecturer in [[English literature]], Robert turned to journalism after his first wife died in childbirth.{{sfnm|1a1=Piggott|1y=1977|1p=623|2a1=Hawkes|2y=1982|2pp=15, 18}} His second wife, Emily, shared her husband's interest in English literature, and was the niece of [[Thomas Spencer Baynes]], a [[Shakespeare's reputation|Shakespearean]] scholar at [[St. Andrews University]]. Their marriage was emotionally strained, a situation exacerbated by their financial insecurity. Within two years of their son's birth, the family moved to [[Edinburgh]], where a daughter named Amy was born.{{sfn|Hawkes|1982|pp=15, 19-20}}
[[File:Ilkley Moor Swastika Stone.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.4|During childhood, Wheeler took an interest in the prehistoric carvings on [[Ilkley Moor]] in [[West Yorkshire]].]]
When Wheeler was four, his father was appointed chief [[Editorial|leader]] writer for the ''[[Newspapers of Yorkshire#Defunct newspapers|Bradford Observer]]''. The family relocated to [[Saltaire]], a village northwest of [[Bradford]], a cosmopolitan city in [[Yorkshire]], northeast England, then in the midst of the wool trade boom.{{sfnm|1a1=Piggott|1y=1977|1p=623|2a1=Hawkes|2y=1982|2p=16|3a1=Carr|3y=2012|3p=75}} Wheeler was inspired by the moors surrounding Saltaire and fascinated by the area's archaeology. He later wrote about discovering [[Neolithic and Bronze Age rock art in the British Isles|a late prehistoric cup-marked stone]], searching for [[stone tool|lithics]] on [[Ilkley Moor]], and digging into a [[tumulus|barrow]] on Baildon Moor.{{sfn|Hawkes|1982|pp=17, 23}} Although in ill health, Emily Wheeler taught her two children with the help of a [[maid]] up to the age of seven or eight. Mortimer remained emotionally distant from his mother, instead being far closer to his father, whose company he favoured over that of other children.{{sfn|Hawkes|1982|pp=19-22}}

His father had a keen interest in [[natural history]] and a love of fishing and shooting, rural pursuits in which he encouraged Mortimer to take part. Robert acquired many books for his son, particularly on the subject of [[art history]],{{sfn|Hawkes|1982|pp=18, 29}} with Wheeler loving to both read and paint.{{sfnm|1a1=Piggott|1y=1977|1p=623|2a1=Hawkes|2y=1982|2p=21}}

In 1899, Wheeler joined [[Bradford Grammar School]] shortly before his ninth birthday, where he proceeded straight to the second form.{{sfnm|1a1=Piggott|1y=1977|1p=623|2a1=Hawkes|2y=1982|2p=26|3a1=Carr|3y=2012|3p=75}} In 1902, Robert and Emily had a second daughter, whom they named Betty; Mortimer showed little interest in this younger sister.{{sfn|Hawkes|1982|p=26}} In 1905, Robert agreed to take over as head of the London office of his newspaper, by then renamed the ''Yorkshire Daily Observer'', so the family relocated to the southeast of the city in December 1905, settling into a house named Carlton Lodge on South Croydon Road, [[West Dulwich]].{{sfnm|1a1=Piggott|1y=1977|1p=623|2a1=Hawkes|2y=1982|2pp=31–32|3a1=Carr|3y=2012|3p=75}} In 1908, they moved to 14 Rollescourt Avenue in nearby [[Herne Hill]].{{sfn|Hawkes|1982|p=38}} Rather than being sent for a conventional education, when he was 15 Wheeler was instructed to educate himself by spending time in London, where he frequented the [[National Gallery]] and the [[Victoria and Albert Museum]].{{sfn|Hawkes|1982|pp=32–33}}