Brian Dobson (13 September 1931 – 19 July 2012) was an English

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

, teacher and scholar. His specialisms were

Hadrian's Wall Hadrian's Wall ( la, Vallum Aelium), also known as the Roman Wall, Picts' Wall, or ''Vallum Hadriani'' in Latin, is a former defensive fortification of the Roman province of Britannia, begun in AD 122 in the reign of the Emperor Hadrian. R ...

and the

Roman Army The Roman army (Latin: ) was the armed forces deployed by the Romans throughout the duration of Ancient Rome, from the Roman Kingdom (c. 500 BC) to the Roman Republic (500–31 BC) and the Roman Empire (31 BC–395 AD), and its medieval contin ...

. He studied under

Eric Birley Eric Barff Birley, Reader A reader is a person who reads. It may also refer to: Computing and technology * Adobe Reader (now Adobe Acrobat), a PDF reader * Bible Reader for Palm, a discontinued PDA application * A card reader, for extracting data from various forms of ...

Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

Personal life

Dobson was born in Hartlepool in 1931 to a Plymouth Brethren family, attended school in Stockton before attending the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

in 1949 to read Modern History as a member of Hatfield College. He fell under the influence of Eric Birley, who supervised his PhD on the role of primipilares in the Roman Army. He was married for over 50 years and had five children.

Education and work

From 1955-57 he did his National Service in the army, learning Russian at Bodmin and Crail and serving in the Intelligence Corps. In 1957-59 he worked at the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

as research fellow, there meeting and becoming influenced by the adult education tutor Graham Webster. In 1960 Dobson began working as a lecturer in archaeology in the Department of Extra Mural Studies, teaching in the adult education department - a post in which he remained until retirement in 1990. In this capacity Dobson organized a series of tours of Hadrian's Wall sites every four years in the 1960s. During these he introduced his students (and others) to many little-known (to the amateur) sites on the wall. He worked closely with

David Breeze David John Breeze, OBE, FSA, FRSE, HonFSAScot, Hon MIFA (born 25 July 1944) is a British archaeologist, teacher and scholar of Hadrian's Wall, the Antonine Wall and the Roman army. He studied under Eric Birley and is a member of the so-ca ...

(chief inspector of ancient monuments for historic Scotland and visiting professor at Durham University since 1994) on their joint studies in aspects of Hadrian's Wall and produced one of the most influential texts on the subject, still in print today. He undertook a series of excavations in

Corbridge Corbridge is a village in Northumberland, England, west of Newcastle and east of Hexham. Villages nearby include Halton, Acomb, Aydon and Sandhoe. Etymology Corbridge was known to the Romans as something like ''Corstopitum'' or ''Coriosopit ...

in the 1960s and 1970s, and provided an eyewitness account of the discovery of the

Corbridge Hoard The Corbridge Hoard is a hoard of mostly iron artefacts that was excavated in 1964 within the Roman site of Coria, next to what is now Corbridge, Northumberland, England (not to be confused with a hoard of gold coins found nearby in 1911). It ca ...

. Dobson served as president of the

Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle The Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne, the oldest provincial Antiquarian#Antiquarian societies, antiquarian society in England, was founded in 1813. It is a Charitable organization, registered charity under English law. It has had a ...

and of the Architectural and Archaeological Society of Durham and Northumberland. He was also a member of several local trusts, including those of Chesters, Corbridge and

Maryport Maryport is a town and civil parish in the Allerdale borough of Cumbria, England, historically in Cumberland. The town is situated just outside the Lake District National Park, at the northern end of the former Cumberland Coalfield. Locatio ...

museums. What gave him particular pleasure was his membership of the

Vindolanda Vindolanda was a Roman auxiliary fort (''castrum'') just south of Hadrian's Wall in northern England, which it originally pre-dated.British windo- 'fair, white, blessed', landa 'enclosure/meadow/prairie/grassy plain' (the modern Welsh word woul ...

Trust from 1996 to 2011.

Hadrianic Society

In 1971, he founded the

Hadrianic Society The Hadrianic Society was a British historical society focused upon Hadrian's Wall and Roman Britain as well as the Antonine Wall, the Gask Ridge, and other Limes (Roman Empire), Roman Frontier systems. It was founded in 1971 under the leaders ...

in order to promote the study of Hadrian's Wall and its environs. He remained the patron of the society from its conception until his death in 2012. To mark his 70th birthday, in 2002, the society presented him with a collation of papers from current and former students and colleagues. In 2017 the society published a

Gedenkschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

in celebration of Dr. Dobson's career.

Publications

*Birley, E., Dobson, B. and Jarret, M.G. (Eds.) 1994. ''Proceedings of the eighth International Congress of Limesforschung'' Cardiff: University of Wales Press *Breeze, D. and Dobson, B. 1993. ''Roman Officers and Frontiers''. Stuttgart : Franz Steiner Verlag *Breeze, D. and Dobson, B. 2000. ''Hadrian's Wall "

Penguin Penguins (order (biology), order List of Sphenisciformes by population, Sphenisciformes , family (biology), family Spheniscidae ) are a group of Water bird, aquatic flightless birds. They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere: on ...

*Dobson, B. 1957. ''Die Rangordnung des römischen Heeres''. Köln: Böhlau *Dobson, B. and Maxfield, V. 1995. ''Inscriptions of Roman Britain''. London: London Association of Classical Teachers

References

External links