Richard MacGillivray Dawkins FBA (24 October 1871 – 4 May 1955) was a British archaeologist. He was associated with the British School at Athens, of which he was Director between 1906 and 1913.

Early life

He was the son of

Rear-Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regarde ...

Richard Dawkins of Stoke Gabriel and his wife Mary Louisa McGillivray, only surviving daughter of

Simon McGillivray Simon McGillivray, FRS ( – 9 June 1840), played an intricate role in merging the family owned North West Company with the rival Hudson's Bay Company. From 1835, he co-owned the ''Morning Chronicle'' and the ''London Advertiser''. He was Prov ...

. He was educated at Marlborough College and at

King's College, London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King G ...

where he trained as an electrical engineer.

Academic career

He took part in the dig at Palékastro, and the survey of

Lakonia Laconia or Lakonia ( el, Λακωνία, , ) is a historical and administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparta. The word ''laconic''—to speak in a blunt, c ...

(see Artemis Orthia and Menelaion, Sparta); also at

Rhitsona Vathy ( el, Βαθύ) is a town and a community in the municipal unit of Avlida in the Euboea regional unit, Greece. It is situated on the Greek mainland, near the South Euboean Gulf, 6 km south of Chalcis. The Greek National Road 44 ( Thebes - ...

. He undertook linguistic fieldwork in

Cappadocia Cappadocia or Capadocia (; tr, Kapadokya), is a historical region in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It largely is in the provinces Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Re ...

from 1909 to 1911, which resulted in a basic work on

Cappadocian Greek Cappadocian Greek ( cpg, Καππαδοκικά, Καππαδοκική Διάλεκτος), also known as Cappadocian or Asia Minor Greek, is a dialect of modern Greek heavily influenced by Turkish, originally spoken in Cappadocia (modern-day ...

. Then he led a dig at Filakopí from 1911. He was a fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He was director of the British School at Athens from 1906 to 1913. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he served as an intelligence officer attached to the Royal Navy in Crete. In December 1919, he was elected the first Bywater Professor of Byzantine and Modern Greek Language and Literature at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

. Between 1928 and 1930 Dawkins served as President of the

Folklore Society The Folklore Society (FLS) is a national association in the United Kingdom for the study of folklore. It was founded in London in 1878 to study traditional vernacular culture, including traditional music, song, dance and drama, narrative, arts an ...

, and in his later life published three considerable collections of Greek folk tales. In 1907, he inherited the Plas Dulas estate from a first cousin. There he experimented with plant importation and cultivation. He also displayed archaeological antiquities within the garden.History of Plas Dulas Estate
/ref>

Works

*Modern Greek in Asia Minor (1916) *The sanctuary of Artemis Orthia at Sparta (1929) *The Cypriot Chronicle of Makhairas (1932) *The Monks of Athos (1936) *Forty-five Stories from the Dodecanese (1950) *Arabian Nights *

Norman Douglas George Norman Douglas (8 December 1868 – 7 February 1952) was a British writer, now best known for his 1917 novel '' South Wind''. His travel books, such as ''Old Calabria'' (1915), were also appreciated for the quality of their writing. ...

( G. Orioli, 1933 ungarno series revised 1952) *Modern Greek Folktales (1953) *More Greek Folktales (1955) *More stories from the Arabian Nights (1957)

References and sources

;References ;Sources *R. J. H. Jenkins, ''Richard MacGillivray Dawkins, 1871-1955'', Proceedings of the British Academy, 41 (1955), 373–88.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dawkins, RM 1871 births 1955 deaths People educated at Marlborough College Alumni of King's College London British archaeologists Directors of the British School at Athens Fellows of the British Academy Presidents of the Folklore Society