David George Hogarth
English classicist and excavator; born in Barton-on-Humber, Lincs., 23 May 1862, eldest son of the Revd George H., vicar of that parish, and Jane Elizabeth, daughter of John Uppleby of Scarborough; he was educated at Winchester College where he was commoner, 1876-81; afterwards read classics at Magdalen College, Oxford, 1881-5; MA; Tutor of Magdalen, 1886-93, and Fellow, 1886; FBA, 1905; DLitt Oxford, 1918; Hon. LittD Cambridge, 1924; in 1886 he was awarded the Craven travelling scholarship and thus started his career as an archaeological field worker and his interest in the Near East, for his career in these earlier stages see Accidents of an Antiquary’s Life, 1910; he excavated at Paphos in Cyprus, 1888; this was followed by three seasons in Egypt working for the EEF at Deir el-Bahri, Alexandria and in the Fayum, 1894-6; this close association with Egypt and the Fund’s work did not, it was said, make him particularly enthusiastic for Egyptian archaeology or field work as he was by training and vocation a classicist, nevertheless he was to continue his links and support for Egyptology for the rest of his life; at this time he married Laura Violet, dau. of Charles Uppleby of Barrow Hall, a distant relative of his mother, 1894; appointed Director of Brit. School of Arch. at Athens, 1897-1900; a season at Naukratis was in the nature of a follow up of Petrie’s earlier work there, 1899; Hogarth now transferred his interest to Crete where in 1900 he joined (Sir) Arthur Evans in excavation at Knossos, particularly being engaged at the Diktaean Cave, and with a season at Zakro; he was again at Naukratis, 1903; he then worked for the British Museum in Asia Minor at Ephesus on the site of the Artemis temple, 1904-5; a final season in Egypt followed, when he was co-director of the British Museum expedition that dug the cliff tombs at Asyut, 1907; he was apparently dissatisfied with this work and never published the results, but discovered some interesting early Middle Kingdom coffins for the BM collections (a chapter on this work may be found in the above quoted book); he surveyed the sites of Carchemish and Tell Bashar, 1908, 1909, 1921; he was appointed Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1909-27; he started the excavations at Carchemish, 1911, the work for which he is perhaps best remembered, but which was continued by (Sir) C. L. Woolley and T. E. Lawrence; during the first World War he served as Comdr. RNVR, 1915-19, and was made Director of the Arab Bureau in Cairo, 1916; CMG, 1918; also a member of the British delegation at the Peace Conference at Versailles; Gold Medal of Roy. Geogr. Soc., 1917; Pres. RGS, 1925; Vice Pres. Hellenic Soc.; Radcliffe Trustee; Order of Nile 3rd class, 1917, etc.; Committee of Brit. School of Arch. in Egypt; member of Committee of EES for twenty years, 1907-27, and lectured to society; an excellent linguist with a first hand knowledge of the Near East Hogarth influenced both T. E. Lawrence and Gertrude Bell; his most important contact with Egyptology was undoubtedly through Petrie; like Evans his term at the Ashmolean saw a great widening of interest in the material obtained for the collections, especially in regard to the Egyptian; among his published works the following books are the most relevant, Devia Cypria, 1889; Fayum Towns and their Papyri ed. for the EEF and with others, 1900; The Nearest East, 1902; The Penetration of Arabia, 1904, a country which he never visited until 1917; The Ancient East, 1914; Carchemish Pt. I, 1914; Hittite Seals, 1920; Kings of the Hittites (the Schweich lectures for 1924), 1926; he also contributed chapters to the Cambridge Ancient History relating to Hittite history and archaeology; his main articles on Egyptian subjects will be found in EEF Arch. Reports, English Historical Review; JEA; JHS; BSA Annual etc.; he died suddenly in his sleep in Oxford, 6 Nov. 1927.
