Ivan Donald Margary, (1896–1976) was a British historian who, during his lifetime, became the leading authority on Roman roads in Great Britain. He wrote numerous works on Roman roads of which his most influential and complete was ''Roman Roads In Britain''.

Biography

Ivan 'Donald' Margary's birth was registered at St. George's, Hanover Square, the parish church of

Mayfair Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...

, on 23 November 1896. In his youth he lived with his family in

Bruton Street Bruton Street is a street in London's Mayfair district. Queen Elizabeth II was born there, and the fashion designer Norman Hartnell lived there for 44 years. It runs from Berkeley Square in the south-west to New Bond Street in the north-east, w ...

, just off

Berkeley Square Berkeley Square is a garden square in the West End of London. It is one of the best known of the many squares in London, located in Mayfair in the City of Westminster. It was laid out in the mid 18th century by the architect William Kent, ...

. He was educated privately and then matriculated into

Exeter College, Oxford Exeter College (in full: The Rector and Scholars of Exeter College in the University of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and the fourth-oldest college of the university. The college was founde ...

in 1913 to study chemistry. From 1914 to 1919, he served in the 3rd Batallion

Royal Sussex Regiment The Royal Sussex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army that was in existence from 1881 to 1966. The regiment was formed in 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 35th (Royal Sussex) Regiment of Foo ...

of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Having been a member of the

Officers Training Corps The University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), also known as the Officers' Training Corps (OTC), are British Army reserve units, under the command of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, which recruit exclusively from universities and focus on ...

, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant on 8 April 1915. He was injured multiple times, including a broken ankle and being shot in the back and neck. He returned to Oxford after the war and graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

(BA) degree in 1921. Mr Margary inherited £100,000 and property in the will of James Walker Larnach of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, New South Wales, Australia published on 04 July 1924, which further enabled his philanthropy. In 1932 'Donald' married Dorothy Marie Jolly (birth registered in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

on 04 May 1893) at

Godstone Godstone is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Tandridge District of Surrey, England. It is east of Reigate, west of Oxted, east of Guildford and south of London. Close to the North Downs, both the North Downs Way ...

, Surrey. Margary's primary gift to the study of Roman roads was the development of a catalogue system known as Margary numbers, numbering Roman roads so that they could be referred to by catalogue number to avoid confusion, and to allow cross-referencing of the same road between different studies and authors. In later life, he financed the excavation of

Fishbourne Roman Palace Fishbourne Roman Palace or Fishbourne Villa is in the village of Fishbourne, West Sussex, Fishbourne, near Chichester in West Sussex. The palace is the largest known Roman residence north of the Alps, and has an unusually early date of 75 A ...

, near

Chichester Chichester ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher ...

in West Sussex, and the building of ''Margary

Quad QUaD, an acronym for QUEST at DASI, was a ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization experiment at the South Pole. QUEST (Q and U Extragalactic Sub-mm Telescope) was the original name attributed to the bolometer detector instrume ...

'' at Exeter, his old college. He contributed to the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

's excavation at Avebury Stone Circle and to the archaeology department of the

British School at Rome The British School at Rome (BSR) is a British interdisciplinary research centre supporting the arts, humanities and architecture established in Rome. Historical and archaeological study are at the core of its activities. History The British Sc ...

. His other interests included meteorology and agriculture. Ivan Donald Margary's death was registered at Felcourt, Sussex, on 18 February 1976 and his last will and testament included many generous bequests to charitable organisations, including the Society of Antiquaries.

Honours and awards

In 1932, Margary was elected Fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...

. He declined all other nominations for recognition.

Selected works

* ''Roman Roads in Britain'', Phoenix House, London. Vol. 1 (South, 1955) and Vol.2 (North, 1957)

References

1896 births 1976 deaths Historians of ancient Rome 20th-century British historians Historians of Roman Britain Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford Royal Sussex Regiment officers {{UK-historian-stub