Niven Kerr

In 1846 the British Museum authorised its consul at Larnaca to buy a cuneiform stone for up to £20, then raised the limit to £50, and the stone went to Berlin instead. Niven Kerr took up the consulate on 11 April 1843¹. His report of 31 December 1845 was forwarded to the Museum on 7 April 1846; it said that excavation under a scientific person would pay and mentioned the stone near Larnaca. On 4 May the Trustees declined to dig but allowed the £20. Kerr replied on 22 June that he was "not an archaeologist", that he would work through Marcello Cerruti and that the owners asked far more. The Trustees raised the limit to £50 on 12 September. On 25 November Kerr reported that the owner had already sold the stone to the Prussian consular agent for 7,000 francs¹. The stone is the stele of Sargon II, now in Berlin.

Louis de Mas Latrie wrote in 1850 that he owed to Kerr's friendship a marble head of Venus found at Kition³. R. S. Merrillees says Kerr facilitated its acquisition; the head passed to Benjamin Delessert and was sold in London on 20 July 1848¹. In 1849 Kerr nominated Demetrios Pierides as vice-consul. The appointment was annulled, and Kerr protested to the Foreign Office².

Kerr moved to Rhodes at his own request when the consular seat moved in 1849. He became consul at Dunkirk on 9 December 1853 and died there on 21 August 1857¹.