Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Colonial official · Excavator · Scholar

Roland Lyon Nosworthy Michell

1847–1931 · United Kingdom

Colonial administrator. Excavated at Limassol (tombs near the Commissioner's house).

Life and work

  1. 5 August 1879
    Appointed Commissioner of Limassol, Cyprus (the Colonial Office List 1889 prints 'MICHELL, R. L. N.--Commissioner, Limassol, Cyprus, 5 Aug., 1879'; the 1889 establishment list gives the post at 600 pounds and a house).

    LimassolAnderson & Webb 1889

  2. 1883
    As Commissioner of Limassol, with the Governor-General's permission, had prisoners and a foreman dig tombs near Limassol for the Cyprus Museum. Ohnefalsch-Richter (1886) names 'R. Michell' and complains that no suitable person was present and the finds of different tombs were thrown together; Reinach (1885 chronicle) calls the digs 'tout a fait tumultuaires', paid for by 'M. R. Mitchell', government commissioner at Limassol, at the end of spring 1883; Myres and Ohnefalsch-Richter (1899) record tombs opened in 1883 'near the Commissioner's house', objects of all periods (Egyptianizing scarabs to Roman coins and glass) and no proper record kept.

    LimassolOhnefalsch-Richter 1886, p. 196Reinach 1891Myres & Ohnefalsch-Richter 1899

  3. 1888
    Thanked in the Paphos expedition's report among island residents who showed kindness: 'Mr. Mitchell of Limasol'.

    LimassolGardner et al. 1888

  4. 1893–1894
    Tatton-Brown's list of Cypriot officials prints 'Michel, Roland District Commissioner of Limassol 1893-4'. This is a snapshot, not the length of his service: he had held the post since 1879.

    LimassolTatton-Brown 2001

  5. 1908
    Article 'A Muslim-Christian Sect in Cyprus' in The Nineteenth Century (the linovamvaki), listed in Recke's bibliography under 'Roland L. N. Michell' and announced in the Athenaeum of 2 May 1908 as by 'Roland L. N. Michell, Commissioner of Limassol, Cyprus'. Given (2001) names Roland Michell, Commissioner of Limassol, among scholar-officials who investigated the linovamvaki.

    Recke 2018The Athenaeum, 2 May… 1908, p. 32Tatton-Brown 2001

Connections

2 people

Colleagues & contacts

Sources

  1. 1.Veronica Tatton-Brown (ed.) (2001). Cyprus in the 19th Century AD: Fact, Fancy and Fiction. Oxford, Oxbow.
  2. 2.M. Recke (2018). Like Herrings in a Barrel: Max Ohnefalsch-Richter.
  3. 3.Roland L. N. Michell (1908). “A Muslim-Christian Sect in Cyprus”. The Nineteenth Century, 751-762.
  4. 4.John Anderson, Sidney Webb (1889). The Colonial Office List for 1889. 28th Publication. Online
  5. 5.J. L. Myres, M. Ohnefalsch-Richter (1899). A Catalogue of the Cyprus Museum. Oxford, Clarendon Press.
  6. 6.M. Ohnefalsch-Richter (1886). “Das Museum und die Ausgrabungen auf Cypern seit 1878”. Repertorium für Kunstwissenschaft 9.
  7. 7.Salomon Reinach (1891). Chroniques d'Orient.
  8. 8.E. A. Gardner, D. G. Hogarth, M. R. James, R. Elsey Smith (1888). “Excavations in Cyprus, 1887-88”. Journal of Hellenic Studies 9, 147-271.
  9. 9.John A. Bucknill (1910). “On the Ornithology of Cyprus”. The Ibis. Online
  10. 10.“Michell, Roland Lyon Nosworthy, 1847-1931, colonial administrator (AIM25 authority record)”. AIM25. Online
  11. 11. (1908). “The Athenaeum, 2 May 1908, no. 4201”. The Athenaeum. Online