Charles Peers

The 1934 inspection of Cyprus by Sir Charles Reed Peers and George Hill led to the island's Department of Antiquities¹. Peers, born at Westerham on 22 September 1868, was educated at Charterhouse and King's College, Cambridge, became Inspector of Ancient Monuments in 1910 and Chief Inspector in 1913, and served the Society of Antiquaries as Secretary, Director and President³. At a meeting of the Archaeological Joint Committee on 16 November 1932, which he attended with Hill and others, the formal proposal for a Cyprus department originated and Peers was recommended to visit the island¹. William Ormsby-Gore authorised the visit in 1933, but the Cyprus government refused to pay the costs. It took place in spring 1934, after Peers's retirement, with Hill joining him at the British Museum's expense¹.

His report, printed in the Cyprus Gazette of 28 September 1934, urged legislation and a funded antiquities service on the lines of the Office of Works^1,5. Both men also commented on the Cyprus Museum's saleroom².

Hill and Peers then drew up a list of candidates for the directorship on their own initiative, headed by Hilary Waddington and then John Hilton, and gave Hilton an informal dinner interview; the Colonial Office board, trusting their judgment, chose Hilton in August 1934¹. After Hilton's dismissal in 1935 Peers strongly backed C. A. Raleigh Radford for the post, but the Colonial Office, which felt that Hill and Peers had gone too far before, preferred open advertisement, and Megaw was appointed¹. Peers died on 16 November 1952⁴.