Augustus Pitt Rivers | |
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Born | Augustus Henry Lane Fox 14 April 1827 |
Died | 4 May 1900 Rushmore Estate, Wiltshire, UK | (aged 73)
Nationality | English |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Ethnology, archaeology |
Military career | |
Allegiance | ![]() |
Service/ | ![]() |
Years of service | 1845–1882 |
Rank | Lieutenant General |
Battles/wars | Crimean War |
Lieutenant General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers FRS FSA FRAI (14 April 1827 – 4 May 1900) was an English officer in the British Army, ethnologist, and archaeologist.[1] He was noted for innovations in archaeological methodology, and in the museum display of archaeological and ethnological collections. His international collection of about 22,000 objects was the founding collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum at the University of Oxford while his collection of English archaeology from the area around Stonehenge forms the basis of the collection at The Salisbury Museum in Wiltshire.[2]
Throughout most of his life he used the surname Lane Fox, under which his early archaeological reports are published. In 1880 he adopted the Pitt Rivers name on inheriting from Lord Rivers (a cousin) an estate of more than 32,000 acres in Cranborne Chase.[3]
His family name is often spelled as "Pitt-Rivers".[4] His middle name is sometimes spelled as "Lane-Fox".[5][6]