John Lamplugh Kirk M.R.C.S (30 April 186926 February 1940) was a British medical doctor, amateur archaeologist and founder of

York Castle Museum York Castle Museum is a museum located in York, North Yorkshire, England, on the site of York Castle, which was originally built by William the Conqueror in 1068. The museum itself was founded by John L. Kirk in 1938, and is housed in prison b ...

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

Personal life

He was born in Hull in 1869 and practised as a doctor in London before moving to Pickering in 1898. Kirk resided in Houndgate Hall, Pickering from 1910 to 1938. Kirk spent some time painting natural and landscape scenes, such as his 1891 'Stags in the Snow'. Kirk was intimately involved in

Yorkshire Archaeological Society The Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society (YAHS), formerly known as the Yorkshire Archaeological Society, is a learned society and registered charity founded in 1863. It is dedicated to the study of the archaeology, history and people of ...

and was a member of the general committee, executive committee and acted as director and honorary treasurer.Corder, P. and Kirk, J.L. 1932. ''A Roman Villa at Langton, near Malton, East Yorkshire'' (Roman Malton and District Reports no.4) Leeds: Yorkshire Archaeological Society

Professional life

Archaeologist

In February 1911 Kirk collaborated with Oxley Grabham (Keeper of the

Yorkshire Museum The Yorkshire Museum is a museum in York, England. It was opened in 1830, and has five permanent collections, covering biology, geology, archaeology, numismatics and astronomy. History The museum was founded by the Yorkshire Philosophical Soc ...

) in the excavation of a

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

Tumulus A tumulus (plural tumuli) is a mound of earth and stones raised over a grave or graves. Tumuli are also known as barrows, burial mounds or ''kurgans'', and may be found throughout much of the world. A cairn, which is a mound of stones buil ...

near Pickering and of an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

chariot burial at Pexton Moor. Kirk excavated the fort of '' Virosidum'' at

Bainbridge, North Yorkshire Bainbridge is a village and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 480. The village is situated in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, near the confluenc ...

in 1925-26 with R. G. Collingwood. He excavated part of the Roman camp at Malton in 1927 with

Philip Corder Philip Corder (–29 May 1961) was a British archaeologist and curator, and president (1954-1957) of the Royal Archaeological Institute. Biography Corder was Master of Bootham School, where he taught English, before becoming the curator of V ...

. The results of this excavation formed the core of the Roman archaeology collection of the Malton Museum. Kirk undertook excavations on the late Iron Age settlement at

Costa Beck Costa Beck is a small river in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. It also lends its name to an archaeological site. Watercourse The source of Costa Beck is Keld Head Spring west of Pickering. It is a tributary of the River Ry ...

near Pickering between 1925 and 1929 - these excavations were published by

Mary Kitson Clark Anna Mary Hawthorn Kitson Clark, (14 May 1905 – 1 February 2005), married name Mary Chitty, was an English archaeologist, curator, and independent scholar. She specialised in the archaeology of Romano-British Northern England but was also in ...

in 1931. Kirk and Corder also excavated at the side of Langton Roman Villa, near Malton, the excavations of which were led by Kirk. Regarding Kirk's role in the Langton excavations, Corder wrote: "The daily supervision and all the organisation of the work once again fell to Dr. Kirk, who directed the excavation in person, until ill health led to his forced retirement. Even then he largely directed the final stages of the work from his bed". Published works as an archaeologist include: *Kirk, J. L. 1912. "The Opening of a Tumulus near Pickering", ''Annual Report of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society for 1911'', 57-62. *Corder, P. and Kirk, J.L. 1932. ''A Roman Villa at Langton, near Malton, East Yorkshire'' (Roman Malton and District Reports no.4) Leeds: Yorkshire Archaeological Society *Corder, P. and Kirk. J. 1928. "Roman Malton: a Yorkshire Fortress and its neighbourhood" in ''Antiquity Vol. 2''. pp. 69–72

Curator

Kirk had amassed a collection of objects relating to the study of Social History. His enthusiasm for folk museums was encouraged through visiting the Stockholm Historical Museum, Biological Museum, and

Skansen Skansen (; "the Sconce") is the oldest open-air museum and zoo in Sweden located on the island Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden. It was opened on 11 October 1891 by Artur Hazelius (1833–1901) to show the way of life in the different parts of S ...

(an open-air museum) in Sweden in 1910. In addition to collecting and photographing social history, he would accept 'bygones' in lieu of payment from his medical patients. Initial plans to house the collection in Pickering in the 1920s ultimately failed. In 1931 Kirk advertised more widely for expressions of interest from sites who wished to house his collection, receiving responses from sites in Middlesbrough, Wakefield, Batley, Doncaster and York, with the latter eventually being successful. The Female Prison (now part of

) was bought by the York Corporation in 1934 and modified to house the Kirk Collection of "bygones", opening as the Castle Museum in 1938. A major attraction of this new museum was the recreation of a late Victorian street, named 'Kirkgate'; this was the first of its kind in Britain. Kirk and his deputy curator, Violet Rodgers were both recreated by re-enactors on Kirkgate, the reconstructed Victorian street, as part of the Castle Museum's 80th anniversary in 2018.

Awards and fellowships

Kirk was a Member of the Royal College of Surgeons and a Fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societ ...

. In 1938 he was elected an honorary member of the

Yorkshire Philosophical Society The Yorkshire Philosophical Society (YPS) is a charitable learned society (charity reg. 529709) which aims to promote the public understanding of the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the archaeology and history of York and Yorkshire. ...

.YPS. 1939. ''Annual Report of the Council of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society for the year 1938'' p. 9

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirk, John 1869 births 1940 deaths British archaeologists 19th-century British medical doctors 20th-century British medical doctors People from Kingston upon Hull People from Pickering, North Yorkshire British curators Museum founders Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons Members of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society Employees of York Castle Museum