Edward Pyddoke

Edward Whately Pyddoke (1909 – 8 September 1976) was a British archaeologist, antiquarian, and author on archaeological and related subjects, who served as Secretary and Registrar for the University of London Institute of Archaeology.

Early life and education

Pyddoke was the elder son of Henry Whately Pyddoke, of Bonnyrigg, Tonbridge, Kent, formerly of Oxhill, Loughton, Essex, and Edith, daughter of Major John Wilson, of the Scots Greys.^[1] He had an elder sister, Silvia (1908–1961), who served as consultant anaesthetist to the hospitals in Maidstone, and a younger brother, John (b. 1917).^[2][3] Henry Pyddoke was involved in the social reform activities undertaken by Toynbee Hall, founded by Samuel Barnett, at whose request he undertook an investigation in the winter of 1894 into the casual ward^[4] system, involving over six hundred interviews.^[5][6] The Pyddoke family were minor gentry, originally gunmakers named Whately (also Whateley) who through a marriage in the 1700s inherited the estate of the Piddock family (including The Austins, at Handsworth, Staffordshire) and adopted that family's name.^[7][8][9]

He was educated at Tonbridge School in Kent,^[1] then at the University of London Institute of Archaeology^[10] in their first cohort of students for the Postgraduate Diploma of Prehistoric Archaeology, in 1946/ 7; amongst the five other students were Grace Simpson and Nancy Sandars. Based at St John's Lodge, Regent's Park, London, and started by Sir Mortimer Wheeler, they were taught by eminent archaeologists including V. Gordon Childe, Kathleen Kenyon, F. E. Zeuner, and Stuart Piggott.^[11] He took the examinations in 1948, and was awarded the Diploma.^[12] Whilst a student, Pyddoke was appointed a part-time assistant in the Department of European Archaeology, responsible for "arranging and cataloguing the relevant section of the collection".^[13]

Career

Pyddoke was a motoring enthusiast, building cars raced at Brooklands with the Bolster brothers,^{[14][15][16][17]} with whom he had been at school; after leaving Tonbridge, he went to work at SU Carburettors in Birmingham.^{[citation needed]} He subsequently worked for the Anglo-American Oil Company in 1939 and for the Bank of England Exchange Control prior to his archaeological studies; from 1948 to 1951, he was curator at the Barbican House museum at Lewes, Sussex, before in 1951 taking over from Dr Ian Cornwall^[18] as Secretary and Registrar at the University of London Institute of Archaeology, serving in this capacity until 1955.^[1]

Pyddoke wrote and co-wrote several works, including Stratification for the Archaeologist (1961),^[19] a "systematic treatment of soils" in which he "emphasized the geologic and geographic context of archaeological sites and... the importance of understanding natural formation processes to interpreting the archaeological record",^[20] and What is Archaeology? (1965). He also collaborated with his Institute of Archaeology colleagues Henry W. M. Hodges (lecturer in Archaeological Technology)^[21] and Marjorie Maitland Howard, who provided illustrations, on Ancient Britons: How they lived (1969), which "recreate[d] life in the British Isles from the Old Stone Age to the Roman invasions".^[22] He was editor, in 1963, of The Scientist and Archaeology, with contributions from Richard J. C. Atkinson, Kenneth Oakley, Edward Thomas Hall, Henry Hodges, and others, a "useful compact book" highlighting how "the biological and physical sciences can enlighten [archaeologists'] interpretations from artifacts and excavation data".^[23][24]

Pyddoke was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London; he challenged "with some authority, and with the use of some scientific terminology" the theory that William Shakespeare was buried close to the bank of the River Avon.^[25]

Personal life

In 1936, Pyddoke married Ruth Alfreda Worsell Martin; they had one daughter.^[26] They lived at Northumberland Mansions, Luxborough Street, City of Westminster. He died on 8 September 1976.^[27]

References

1. The register of Tonbridge School from 1900 to 1965, ed. C. H. Knott, Tonbridge School, 1966, p. 134
2. Armorial Families, seventh edition, vol. 2, A. C. Fox-Davies, Hurst & Blackett Ltd, 1929, p. 1605
3. British Medical Journal, issue 2, 1961, p. 1142 URL= https://www.bmj.com/content/2/5417/1142
4. "casual ward - Wiktionary". En.wiktionary.org. 10 May 2017. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
5. Toynbee Hall: Fifty Years of Social Progress, 1884-1934, John Pimlott, J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd, 1935, p. 121
6. "The Rainbow Circle". Camden. Fourth Series. 38. Cambridge.org: 17–351. 21 December 2009. doi:10.1017/S0068690500003238. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
7. Historical Records of Bisley with Lypiatt, Gloucestershire, Mary Amelia Rudd, Alan Sutton, 1977, p. 298
8. Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry, 15th edition, ed. H. Pirie Gordon, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1937, "Pyddoke formerly of The Austins" pedigree
9. Burke's Family Index, ed. Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1976, p. 127
10. The Authors' and Writers' Who's Who, ed. J. V. Yates, Hafner Publishing Co., 1971, p. 653
11. University of London Bulletin of the Institute of Archaeology, Collected Issues 23-24, University College London, 1987, p. 28
12. Archaeology International, vol. 4, 2000, Grace Simpson, p. 10, "Remembering Frederick Zeuner and others at the Institute of Archaeology, 1945-48"
13. University of London Bulletin of the Institute of Archaeology, Collected Issues 23-24, University College London, 1987, p. 218
14. "Scrap-book".
15. "Edward Pyddoke at the wheel of his 1909 Crossley open tourer" – via ResearchGate.
16. Motor Sport, incorporating Speed and The Brooklands Gazette, vol. 39, ed. William Boddy, Teesdale Publishing, 1963, p. 171
17. Alumni Reflections in Archaeology International, no. 16 (2012-2013), Nicholas Thomas et al., 2013 pp. 140-147
18. Prehistorian: a biography of V. Gordon Childe, Sally Green, Moonraker, 1981, p. 106
19. Institution login (2 January 2015). "Stratification for the Archaeologist. By Edward Pyddoke. London: Phoenix House, 1961. pp. 124, 8 plates, 18 figures, foreword by Professor S. W. Wooldridge. 30s | Antiquity | Cambridge Core". Antiquity. 36 (141). Cambridge.org: 70–71. doi:10.1017/S0003598X0002963X. S2CID 163459933. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
20. Understanding the Archaeological Record, Gavin Lucas, Cambridge University Press, 2012, pp. 84-5
21. Elizabeth Pye (17 June 1997). "Obituary: Professor H. W. M. Hodges". The Independent. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
22. Publishers' Weekly, vol. 197, part 1, p. 61
23. Jope, E. M. (January 1966). "Browse journals by subject". Archaeological Journal. 123 (1). Tandfonline.com: 228. doi:10.1080/00665983.1966.11077410. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
24. Institution login (26 May 2015). "The Scientist and Archaeology edited by Edward Pyddoke, with chapters by R. J. C. Atkinson, I. W. Cornwall, G. W. Dimbleby, F. S. Wallis, H. W. M. Hodges, K. P. Oakley, H. Barker, R. M. Organ and E. T. Hall. London: Phoenix House, 1963. 208 pp., 24 pls., 32 figs. 30s. | Antiquity | Cambridge Core". Antiquity. 39 (153). Cambridge.org: 73–74. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00031513. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
25. "Shakespeare" Identified in Edward De Vere, Seventeenth Earl of Oxford, and The Poems of Edward de Vere, Volume 2, J. Thomas Looney, Kennikat Press, 1975, p. 278
26. The Author's and Writer's Who's Who, ed. J. V. Yates, Hafner Publishing Co., 1971, p. 653
27. Gov.uk Wills and Probate 1858-1996, Surname "Pyddoke", Year of Death "1977", 1977 record page 6588 [n.b.- his will was not probated until January 1977, which is why he isn't under "1976"]