Melos: the churches

In April 1896 Robert Carr Bosanquet, who had been left in charge of the excavations while Cecil Harcourt-Smith was in Athens, was joined on Melos by two contemporaries from Trinity College, Cambridge: Henry Martineau Fletcher (1870-1953) and Sydney Decimus Kitson (1871-1937). Fletcher and Kitson had both matriculated at Trinity in 1889 (the year above Bosanquet) and were on an extended trip through Italy and Greece. While on Melos they made a study of the Byzantine churches. Neither was admitted as a student of the BSA.

Fletcher had been educated at Marlborough, and had been awarded a first in Part 1 of the Cambridge Classical Tripos (1892). He was articled to Mervyn Macartney. He later worked as an architect (FRIBA 1908) and served as Vice-President (1929-31) Honorary Secretary (1934-39) of RIBA. He helped to design the War Memorial at St John's College, Cambridge.

Kitson had been educated at Charterhouse. Kitson's father, James, was a locomotive engineer; his half-brother was the First Baron Airedale. Kitson was articled to E.J. May in London. He practised as an architect in Leeds as the senior partner of Kitson, Parish, Ledgard and Pyman. Among his designs was the Leeds School of Art. Kitson was an authority of John Sell Cotman and the Norwich School of painting. His collection of Cotman drawings and watercolours were bequeathed to RIBA; a former BSA student, Adolph Paul Oppé, prepared the catalogue.

Reference
Fletcher, H. M., and S. D. Kitson. 1895/6. "The churches of Melos." Annual of the British School at Athens 2: 155-68.

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Mature Students at the BSA: Hercules Henry West

Hercules Henry West (1856-1937) was admitted to the BSA in 1896/97 during the directorship of Cecil Harcourt-Smith. He was the youngest son of the Very Rev. John West, Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. West was educated at Marlborough (1871-75) and Trinity College, Cambridge (1875-79; 7th Classic). He was awarded the Sir William Browne’s Medal for Greek Epigram (1877). (One of West's new contemporaries at Marlborough and Trinity was R.A.H. Bickford-Smith [1859-1916] who was admitted to the BSA in 1889/90.)

Henry Jackson, at the time praelector in ancient philosophy at Trinity, used to invite people to his rooms to hear "Herky" exercise his "conspicuous talent for comic mimicry" (The Times June 12, 1937). One of his best interpretations was of 'the man with the testudo'.

West's sister, Elizabeth, was married to Professor Edward Dowden who held the chair of English literature at Trinity College, Dublin. Another, Caroline, was married to the Rev. Canon the Hon. Edward Lyttleton (1855-1942), Master of Haileybury (1890-1905) and Headmaster of Eton (1905-16). Lyttleton was in the year above West at Trinity.

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Marlborough and the BSA

A series of BSA students had been educated at Marlborough, including one director.

Two contemporaries at Marlborough were Hercules Henry West (1856-1937) [1871-75] and Roandeu Albert Henry Bickford-Smith (1859-1916) [1871-74]. West would have been taught by Francis Storr, and both by William Mordaunt Furneaux. Both were admitted to the BSA around the age of 40 [West in 1896/97 and Bickford-Smith in 1899/1900] and long after the completion of their studies at Trinity College, Cambridge.

One of the key influences for the remaining Marlborough students is likely to have been Lewis Edward Upcott, assistant master at Marlborough from 1875-1911 (and replacing Storr). He would have taught Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940) [1881-87], Richard McGillivray Dawkins (1871-1955) [1884-90], John Winter Crowfoot (1873-1959) [1887-92], and John Percival Droop (1882-1963). (Of these, only Crowfoot went to Oxford.) Upcott had been educated at Sherborne and had won a classical scholarship to Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He had an interest in Greek archaeology and wrote An introduction to Greek sculpture (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1887).

A further generation of Marlborough students would have been influenced by Alexander Cradock Bolney Brown ("Sweaty B.") who was assistant master at Marlborough (1908-42). He had been educated at Winchester and then New College, Oxford. During his year at the BSA (1905/06) he excavated in Boeotia. His impact on archaeology is unclear as some his earliest pupils would have served in the First World War.

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