FAMOUS ARCHAEOLOGIST

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 27 October 1928, Page 11

FAMOUS ARCHAEOLOGIST

LIFE STORY OF BENJAMIN HARRISON “The story of a man who was horn in a, little country village, who lived there, all his life of eighty-throo years, carry mg on during fifty-,four of them the business of the villsigo shop—isuch a story might conceive,bly he written so as to interest. “But when that man in his liard-vyon leisure made himself the authority on the antiquities of his district, and by his discoveries pushed Rack our undoubted knowledge of man in 'these islands by many a hundred thousand years, even, i» the opinion of competent fellowworkers, extending man’s existence on earth by a whole geological epoch to a time when the bonfiguraUion of tho country was vastly different.' from tho present, when the chalk stiljl stretched over the Weald'of Kent, and vanished rivers were cutting valleys through rocks that are now no more —then lie would bo a dull writer indeed who conld render tho story of that man other tlnan interesting. “Sir Edward Harrison., is not a dull writer, and in compiling this volume lie has utilised the very full notebooks and the carefully preserved correspondence of his enthusiastic father, Benjamin Harrison, of Ightham,” says 11m Times Literary Supplement. “In these respects the book is almost an autobiography,” adds the reviewer, “yet nothing so formal, and in no way written with one eye on a future public. Sir Edward, -who himself was the recipient of many of the tetters, has performed his editorial task with most becoming modesty. “One need not be either archaeologist or geologist to feel tho fascination of this life-story. All kinds of subjects crop up> witches, smugglers, the old toll-gate, fox-hunting (none of these, by the way, is in the index), tramps and cricket, and about each there is some characteristic and humorous note. Humour of the good country sort is interspersed with the more erudite jestings of Harrison’s sceptical correspondent, Worthington Smith. “Professors, of course, appear, often very humanly; arid fresh light, frequently unexpected, is thrown on such famous names as Tennyson, Russel Wallace Wendell Holmes, Keir Hardie, aqd even Samuel Johnson. Villas grocer though he was (and'he was pi’nud of it), Beniamin Harrison met the great ones of the earth as an equal; for what ho knew of bis own oxrpcricnco, unci metal of which he was cast every part rang true. . ~ , “A meeting with Harrison added a rich treasure to any man s storehouse of memories, and reading this volume one exclaims: What a pleasure it must have been for a son to write file record of such a life !”

WHEN A SCHOOLBOY But to get to the book itself Sir Edward tells the story of how his father when a boy at school started on Ins career as an He writes: “It was while he wa£ at l Constable s sohool that he became seriously interested in tjio study of .geology. ■ “Harrison’s schoolmaster and his elder brother, Tom. were close friends. They met frequently to djiscuss geological questions—a topic of anterest to both of them. The younger brother heard something of what passed between them and became almost imperceptably drawn to theiSubject o ons -t a ble lent Tom Harrison Lyell’s ‘Elements of Geology. Ben seized the opportunity to read the book, and discussed its contents with bis brother. Although pirobably not vet appreciating .fully all that Lyell had written, Harrison’s k’een interest was aroused, and he set about making a collection of fossils from the chalk and other geological formations in the neighbourhood. , . , “Nearly half-a-centuvy later, when conducting Professor Prestwich to a river drift, near Platt, which Prestwich assigned to glacial times, Harrison told him of his search for fossils in a. clay pit near the school. This incident is recorded in a note of 1895, when Harrison visited Prestwich—then an elderly man, nearing the end of his days at his home at Shoreham. and finding him m a reminiscent mood, indulged, m many recollections of past excursions. <<N_2, 10, 1895. An incident in connection with our first visit to Highlands (near Platt) was his introduction to the drift bed canning the water-part- ; n£ between the Shode and the Vourne stream, on the Gault at Hark Warm After lie bad examined this drift, he said. ‘How lone have vou known this ht?’ Pointing 'to a building at Platt, j-iolf-a-milp distant. I renlied, ‘There T went to school, and here was mv Introduction to Gault fossils, In 18b0 or 1851. when I was troubled to account for this drift.’ ” . Only a year later the boy Harrison had another experience, which probably he.lned to stimulate bis interest m his useful hobby. His biographer states :- “Earlv in 1852 a field lying lmmetfioipi v +0 the south of Tghtham Church, helontrinc +o Town House, in the village, was trenched. The digging disclosed a mass of masonry a little below tho surTare. There was a local tradiLion of the existence of .a subterranean -assage connecting the church with Town House, and an excavation was wade in order to test the nature and extent of the discovery. An arched nas-sep-e was uncovered, hut it came to a rrnrMpn end. “En/vugb masonry was found to convince Thomas Harrison of the antiquity of tho structure. He suggested that it was of Roman origin, and Ben searched the field closely, finding several Roman coins. , _ “These coins were shown by Harrison to Canon W. A. Scott Robertson in 1871, on the occasion of a visit of the Kent Archaeological Society to Tghtham. Canon Scott Robertson identified two coins, as follows: ‘One. . . having a female head on one side and a horse on the other, is a Macedonian (Greek) coin. Another, with very long points to the crown around tho Emneror’s head, is.' I believe, of the reign of Claudius Gothicus (A.D. 268-270).

NO LONG TTOT.TO AY FOR OVER, FIFTY YEARS “It is convenient,” adds Sir Edward later “to explain briefly how Harrison carried on his scientific pursuits. The trade in which he was engaged required his continuous attention daily. Bank Holidays and even early closing days were unknown luxuries in and as, during the long half century of his business life (1852-1906), he never took a holiday extending beyond a single day except on two occasions, his opportunities for systematic, scientific study were of the slightest. “He snatched from business an occasional hour or two on slack mornings during the week, and he sometimes managed to include a little field work in a business journey, but his archaeological excursions were in the mam taken on Sundays, and (after 1871) on Bank Holidays Wednesday evening bocame available after the introduction of early closing, and a little evening field work was practicable in the summer half of the year. Finally, he would often get up with the sun and deyote an hour or two to science before business began for the day. ...” “Harrison was not the type of man,

his biographer adds, “to keep his growing knowledge from others, lest ho night, perchance, lose the full credit of omo discovery. He persistently traind workers on the land to recognise implements when they found them, and ■ o tried to interest in his hobby every icrson with whom lie came into contact >vho showed any inclination to listen seriously to him.’’.

A TYPICAL NOTE Tho following is typical of scores of the'• interesting memoranda left behind by Harrison. It was sent to Dr. John Evans in 1874 and speaks for itself:— “lb Harrison to John Evans. . “18/10/1874. “Tho following particulars of tho implements found at Oldbury Camp may be of interest: — “About eight entire;ecltk and' ar considerable number of broken ones; “Some fifty or sixty scrapers; “About twenty stone corn-crushers 5 “Six drilled hammers; “Arrow-heads—leaf-shaped, triangu-. lav, stemmed—ten or twelve; some most delicately worked, and • two especially so. .... ..... . . “Flint awls, one, awl and scraper combined 5 ‘Hand rubbers for polishing; . • “Curved implements for chipping; < “Spear points. “Each walk I atke convinces me riiorc strongly that Oldbury must have been a very important stronghold. Every plot of land brought into cultivation discloses something interesting, and before the eastern side w t as quarried for stone the hill was so' strong a- position that it jnight b,o called the Gibraltar , of Kent,” • There is a touch of humour about some of Harrison’s notes, as the following will bear testimony : “N.--29.5.1894. Smith said: ‘When Seldon and I were working on the railway he said to me, ‘Twonder whether we shall find any flints for Mr Harrison?” We did not find any of the right sort, not your sort, you know.’ ‘He said, “Here’s a big ’un. I’ll take him home and hammer him up a biE, file him, and make him look like one of the right sort.” “ ‘When lie brought it to you he thought you would not know it, but would think it was one of the right sort. He asked you if it was b&e of the right sort, and you said, “This is one of your own make, Seldon.” “ ‘Seldon said, “I thought lie would not know, but I was t6o tricky; lie know’d i. It’s no use taking homemade ones to him, he knows' too much. But ho give me some tobacco for. being tricky ?” ’ ” ...... Harrison met and corresponded with many famous men. Most of them went to see him at his little village, shop, not only to view his “finds” but to discuss'' with him problems of theirown. His researches were a subject of discussion at the British Association on more than one occasion, and, as already suggested, Sir Edward Harrison must have delighted in his task of revealing to the world to the best of his ability what, kind of man bis father was- He has written a book which anyone who gets it will, treasure, for openediat any page at random the reader’s interest is captured, and what higher praise could be paid?