Ernest Arthur Gardner

Template:Short description Template:For Template:Use dmy dates Template:EngvarB Ernest Arthur Gardner (16 March 1862Template:Snd27 November 1939) was an English archaeologist. He was the director of the British School at Athens between 1887 and 1895.

Early life

Gardner was born in Clapton, London, England on 16 March 1862<ref name=Venn>Template:Acad</ref> to Thomas Gardner and Ann Pearse.<ref name=DoAH>Template:Cite web</ref> He was educated at the City of London School, a boys' private day school located in the City of London. He entered Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge in 1880. He read for a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Classics and graduated with a double first in 1884.<ref name=Venn />

Career

Early academic career

Gardner became a fellow of Gonville and Caius College in 1885.<ref name="EB1911">Template:Cite EB1911</ref> In 1885 and 1886, as part of the Egypt Exploration Society, he was involved in the excavations at Naucratis, Egypt. He became a student of the British School at Athens under Francis Penrose in 1886.<ref name=DoAH /> From 1887 to 1895 he was director of the school.<ref name=Venn /> During his first term as director, he led excavations at Old Paphos and Salamis in Cyprus.<ref name=DoAH /> When his directorship was extended in 1891,<ref name="Ox DNB" /> he led an excavation in Megalopolis, Greece.<ref name=DoAH />

After resigning from the British School at Athens in 1895,<ref name=DoAH /> he took up the position of Yates Professor of Classical Art and Archaeology at the University of London in 1896, and held that position until 1929.<ref>https://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/about-us/newsletter/issue-31/</ref> He became editor of The Journal of Hellenic Studies in 1897.<ref name=DoAH /> He was dean of the Faculty of Arts of the University of London from 1905 to 1909 and again from 1913 to 1915.<ref name="Ox DNB" /> He was elected as the first Public Orator of London University in 1910.<ref name=Venn />

Military service

At the outbreak of World War I,<ref name=Venn /> Gardner was commissioned into the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve as a lieutenant commander.<ref name=DoAH /> He served as a naval intelligence officer at Salonika, Greece from 1915 to 1917.<ref name="Ox DNB" /> While based there, he organised the removal of the area's archaeological remains to the protection of the White Tower of Thessaloniki. For this action, he was awarded the Gold Cross of the Order of the Redeemer in 1918 by the Greeks.<ref name="Ox DNB" /> In late 1917 he returned to England and joined the Admiralty. He continued his service in naval intelligence until early 1919.<ref name="Ox DNB" />

Later career and life

Gardner resigned from his positions as Public Orator of London University in 1929<ref name=Venn /> and as editor of The Journal of Hellenic Studies in 1932.<ref name=DoAH /> He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of London between 1924 and 1926.<ref name=Venn /> From 1929 to 1932, he was president of the Hellenic Society.<ref name="Ox DNB" /> He continued lecturing at the University of London until 1933.<ref name=DoAH />

Gardner died on 27 November 1939 in Maidenhead, Berkshire, United Kingdom.<ref name=Venn />

Personal life

Gardner married Mary Wilson (died 1936) in 1887.<ref name=DoAH /> Together they had one son and two daughters.<ref name="Ox DNB">Template:Cite web</ref> His daughter Phyllis Gardner was a writer and artist, whose relationship with poet Rupert Brooke has come to light with two 2015 publications.

His sister Alice Gardner was a historian and his brother, Percy Gardner, was also an archaeologist.<ref> Gillian Sutherland, 'Gardner, Alice (1854–1927)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 21 Feb 2017</ref>

Select works

His publications include: Introduction to Greek Epigraphy (1887); Ancient Athens (1902); Handbook of Greek Sculpture (1905); Six Greek Sculptors (1910);<ref name="EB1911"/> "Poet and Artist in Greece: With Illustrations" (1933; Japanese translation by Keiji Kokubu available, Sogensha Press, 1944).

See also

• List of Vice-Chancellors of the University of London

External links

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