George Horsfield (1882-1956) was a British architect and archaeologist. He was Chief Inspector of Antiquities in

Transjordan Transjordan may refer to: * Transjordan (region), an area to the east of the Jordan River * Oultrejordain, a Crusader lordship (1118–1187), also called Transjordan * Emirate of Transjordan, British protectorate (1921–1946) * Hashemite Kingdom of ...

in 1928–36. Horsfield began the initial clearance and conservation of

Jerash Jerash ( ar, جرش ''Ǧaraš''; grc, Γέρασα ''Gérasa'') is a city in northern Jordan. The city is the administrative center of the Jerash Governorate, and has a population of 50,745 as of 2015. It is located north of the capital city ...

in 1925, and excavated at

Petra Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to t ...

with his future wife, Agnes Conway in 1929.

Personal life

George Horsfield was born in Meanwood,

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, Yorkshire, England on 19 April 1882 to Richard Horsfield and his wife Sarah. He attended

Leeds Grammar School Leeds Grammar School was an independent school founded 1552 in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Originally a male-only school, in August 2005 it merged with Leeds Girls' High School to form The Grammar School at Leeds. The two schools physically ...

and moved to London to train in architecture in the office of noted Gothic architect

George Frederick Bodley George Frederick Bodley (14 March 182721 October 1907) was an English Gothic Revival architect. He was a pupil of Sir George Gilbert Scott, and worked in partnership with Thomas Garner for much of his career. He was one of the founders of Watt ...

. Horsfield then moved to the United States to work for the architectural firm

Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson Ralph Adams Cram (December 16, 1863 – September 22, 1942) was a prolific and influential American architect of collegiate and Church (building), ecclesiastical buildings, often in the Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival style. Cram and ...

. Horsfield returned to the UK in 1914 at the outbreak of war and volunteered for service in the Royal Naval Brigade. He saw action in the Gallipoli campaign in 1915, after which he was commissioned into the 7th West Yorkshire Regiment and took part in the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

in 1916. After contracting

trench fever Trench fever (also known as "five-day fever", "quintan fever" ( la, febris quintana), and "urban trench fever") is a moderately serious disease transmitted by body lice. It infected armies in Flanders, France, Poland, Galicia, Italy, Salonika, Ma ...

he was posted to India in 1918, attached to the Royal Engineers, and became the Chief Architect for Military Works,

Rawalpindi Rawalpindi ( or ; Urdu, ) is a city in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, and third largest in Punjab after Lahore and Faisalabad. Rawalpindi is next to Pakistan's ...

, and

Simla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, the ...

. In 1923, Horsfield became a student at the recently established

British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem The Kenyon Institute, previously known as the British School of Archaeology at Jerusalem (BSAJ), is a British overseas research institute supporting humanities and social science studies in Israel and Palestine. It is part of the Council for Briti ...

. Its first Director,

John Garstang John Garstang (5 May 1876 – 12 September 1956) was a British archaeologist of the Ancient Near East, especially Egypt, Sudan, Anatolia and the southern Levant. He was the younger brother of Professor Walter Garstang, FRS, a marine biol ...

, valued Horsfield's architectural background.Thornton, A. 2009. George Horsfield, Conservation and the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem. ''Antiquity Project Gallery''.
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References

Bibliography

Thornton, A. 2009. George Horsfield, Conservation and the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem. ''Antiquity Project Gallery''.
*Wilson, E. 1906. ''Leeds Grammar School Admission Books'', Vol. 14. Thoresby Society Publications. *Who Was Who, 1951-1960. Horsfield, George. London: A. C. Black, p. 544. *Evans, J. 1966. The Conways: A History of Three Generations. London: Museum Press. {{DEFAULTSORT:Horsfield, George 1882 births 1956 deaths British archaeologists 20th-century archaeologists

Personal life

References

Further reading

Bibliography