Society

Society of Antiquaries of London

London, United Kingdom · founded 1707

Society in London, founded 1707. 15 people in the register connected with it.

History

4 May 1871
T. B. Sandwith (British consul at Crete, not himself a Fellow) read 'On the different styles of pottery found in the ancient tombs in the island of Cyprus' at an ordinary meeting. Col. Lane Fox (later Pitt Rivers) and J. W. Flower exhibited Cypriote antiquities from the Cesnola collection alongside it and the Society returned thanks
LondonThomas Backhouse Sandwith Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers J. W. Flower Merrillees 2001, p. 223
10 May 1871
The Executive Committee recommended that Sandwith's paper be printed in Archaeologia with illustrations; nothing further was done until 1875
LondonThomas Backhouse Sandwith Merrillees 2001, p. 223
April 1875
Rev. H. Sandwith asked for his brother's manuscript back so that it could be used to arrange Cypriote pottery at the Leeds Exhibition; the Director undertook to return it (Executive Committee, 29 April 1875)
LondonHenry Sandwith Thomas Backhouse Sandwith Merrillees 2001, p. 223
16 March 1876
The Director put C. F. Kell's estimate (76 pounds 10 shillings) for 5 plates of Cypriote pottery to the Committee, which recommended approval
LondonC. F. Kell Merrillees 2001, p. 223
1880
Sandwith's paper appeared in Archaeologia 45 (the volume was issued in 1880; the text had been printed separately in 1877, with plates of 1876), the earliest attempt at a prehistoric sequence for Cyprus, in four classes of cemetery
LondonThomas Backhouse Sandwith Merrillees 2001, p. 223-224 Sandwith 1880
1886
Charles Alexander, baron de Cosson, elected an Honorary Fellow (died 1929); he advised the duc de Dino on disposing of his first Lambousa silver
LondonCharles Alexander, baron de Cosson Merrillees 2009, p. 400
15 March 1900
O. M. Dalton read 'A Byzantine silver treasure from the district of Kerynia, Cyprus, now preserved in the British Museum' (the first Lambousa treasure); printed in Archaeologia 57 (1900), with plates published by the Society
LondonOrmonde Maddock Dalton Charles Hercules Read Merrillees 2009, p. 391 Dalton 1900, p. 1
1901–1903
A. H. Church's note on the material of certain Cypriote cylinder-seals appeared in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries (volume covering 28 Nov 1901 to 18 June 1903, pp. 131-133)
LondonA. H. Church Merrillees 2017
30 March 1905
Dalton read 'A second silver treasure from Cyprus' (the second Lambousa treasure) for Archaeologia
LondonOrmonde Maddock Dalton Dalton 1906
1914
Two papers on the Tomb of St Catherine at Salamis were read to the Society, by Myres and by Jeffery (Inspector of the Monuments of Cyprus); they concluded it was a Graeco-Roman tomb
LondonJohn Linton Myres George Jeffery Karageorghis 1969
1916
Jeffery presented 'The earlier Byzantine churches of Cyprus' to the Society (printed in the Proceedings, vol. 28, 1915-16, pp. 106-34), a typological survey of the island's Byzantine churches
LondonGeorge Jeffery Stewart et al. 2014
1920
Jeffery's 'The heraldry of Cyprus' printed in the Proceedings, vol. 32, a report on surviving medieval heraldry in Cyprus
LondonGeorge Jeffery Jeffery 1920
16 November 1932
Sir Charles Peers attended, as President of the Society of Antiquaries and for the Ancient Monuments Board, the Archaeological Joint Committee meeting in London that originated the proposal for a Department of Antiquities in Cyprus; the AJC recommended that Peers visit Cyprus
LondonCharles Peers John Linton Myres George Hill Stanley-Price 2025 Sir Charles Reed Peers… 1953, p. 2
1940
Dikaios's 'The excavations at Vounous-Bellapais in Cyprus, 1931-2' was published as Archaeologia 88; the author thanks the Society for the decision to publish, which resolved the funding problem
LondonPorphyrios Dikaios Dikaios 1940
1940
Benjamin Kent, Harrogate collector of Cypriot antiquities, elected a Fellow
LondonBenjamin Kent Reeve & Waite 2020, p. 2

People

15 people

Staff and members · 12

Thomas Backhouse Sandwithother (1871–1880) · read paper on Cypriot pottery, 4 May 1871Merrillees 2001, p. 2231871–1880
C. F. Kellother (1876–1876) · contract lithographer for the Archaeologia plates (Sandwith paper) · worked for itMerrillees 2001, p. 2231876
Charles Alexander, baron de Cossonmember (1886–1929) · Honorary FellowMerrillees 2009, p. 4001886
Ormonde Maddock Daltonmember · Fellow (F.S.A.)Dalton 1900, p. 11900
Charles Peerssecretary (1908–1921) · director (1921–1929) · president (1929–1934) · Secretary 1908-21, Director 1921-9, President 1929-34Sir Charles Reed Peers… 1953, p. 2 Sir Charles Reed Peers… 1953, p. 2 Sir Charles Reed Peers… 1953, p. 21908
Benjamin Kentmember (from 1940) · FellowReeve & Waite 2020, p. 21940
Alessandro (Alexander) Palma di Cesnolamember · Fellow (F.S.A.)Cesnola 1884
Charles Hercules Readsecretary (1892–1908) · FellowMerrillees 2009, p. 400
Charles Newtonmember · FellowReeve 2021, p. 62
Edwin Henry LawrenceFellow (F.S.A.)
Fairless Barbermember · FellowReeve 2021, p. 99
Vassos KarageorghismemberKarageorghis 1976, p. 191

Donors and lenders · 2

Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Riverslender (1871–1871) · Fellow · lent objectsMerrillees 2001, p. 2231864–1871
J. W. Flowerlender (1871–1871) · lent objectsMerrillees 2001, p. 2231871

Others connected · 1

Henry Sandwithcorresponded with1875

Sources

1.R. S. Merrillees (2001). “T. B. Sandwith and the beginnings of Cypriote archaeology”. Cyprus in the 19th Century AD: Fact, Fancy and Fiction, 222-239. Oxford, Oxbow.
2.Thomas B. Sandwith (1880). “On the different styles of pottery found in ancient tombs in the island of Cyprus”. Archaeologia 45, 127-142.
3.R. S. Merrillees (2009). “The modern history of the first Lambousa treasure of Byzantine silverware from Cyprus”. The Antiquaries Journal 89, 389-403. Online
4.Ormonde M. Dalton (1900). “A Byzantine silver treasure from the district of Kerynia, Cyprus, now preserved in the British Museum”. Archaeologia 57, 159-174. Online
5.Ormonde M. Dalton (1906). “A second silver treasure from Cyprus”. Archaeologia 60, 1-24. Online
6.P. Dikaios (1940). “The Excavations at Vounous-Bellapais in Cyprus, 1931-2”. Archaeologia 88, 1-174.
7.V. Karageorghis (1969). Salamis in Cyprus: Homeric, Hellenistic and Roman. London, Thames and Hudson.
8.C. A. Stewart (ed.), T. W. Davis (ed.), A. Weyl Carr (ed.) (2014). Cyprus and the Balance of Empires: Art and Archaeology from Justinian I to the Coeur de Lion. CAARI / ASOR.
9.G. E. Jeffery (1920). “The heraldry of Cyprus”. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London 32, 203-221.
10.Nicholas Stanley-Price (2025). “Colonial society and the dismissal of John Hilton, first Director of Antiquities in Cyprus”. Empire & Excavation: Critical perspectives on archaeology in British-period Cyprus, 1878-1960, 109-126.
11. (1953). “Sir Charles Reed Peers (obituary notice)”. The Antiquaries Journal 33. Online
12.A. Reeve, S. Waite (2020). “Re-collecting Cypriot antiquity: The Kent collection in Harrogate”. Journal of the History of Collections. Online
13.Anna Holly Reeve (2021). “Ancient Cyprus in Leeds: Objects, Networks and Museums from 1870 to 1947”. PhD thesis, University of Leeds.
14.Alexander Palma di Cesnola (1884). Salaminia (Cyprus): The History, Treasures, and Antiquities of Salamis in the Island of Cyprus. London, Whiting and Company.
15.Robert S. Merrillees (2017). “Cypriote antiquities in Late Ottoman Istanbul and Smyrna - II: Cypriote antiquities in the Greek Evangelical School Museum and their Trading in Late Ottoman Smyrna (Modern Izmir)”. Cahiers du Centre d'Études Chypriotes 47, 121-164. Online
16.V. Karageorghis (1976). Kition: Mycenaean and Phoenician Discoveries in Cyprus. London, Thames and Hudson.
17.“Society of Antiquaries of London”. Wikipedia. Online