John Kemp or Kempe (1665–1717) was an English antiquarian, known as a collector. Kemp had private wealth, and lived in the parish of St. Martin-in-the Fields, London. He was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

on 20 March 1712, and died unmarried on 19 September 1717.

Collection and legacy

Kemp had a museum of antiquities. It had largely been formed by Jean Gailhard, a Frenchman, who was governor to

George Carteret, 1st Baron Carteret George Carteret, 1st Baron Carteret (July 1667 – 22 September 1695) was son of Sir Philip Carteret (died 1672) and the grandson of Vice Admiral Sir George Carteret, 1st Baronet (died 1680). His mother was Lady Jemima Montagu, a daughter of Ed ...

. Gailhard sold it to Carteret for an annuity, and Kemp subsequently bought it. The collection drew on that of

Jacob Spon Jacob Spon (or Jacques; in English dictionaries given as James) (1647 in Lyon – 25 December 1685, in Vevey, Switzerland) was a French doctor and archaeologist, was a pioneer in the exploration of the monuments of Greece, and a scholar of inte ...

, and

William Nicolson William Nicolson (1655–1727) was an English churchman, linguist and antiquarian. As a bishop he played a significant part in the House of Lords during the reign of Queen Anne, and left a diary that is an important source for the politics of ...

left an account of it after a visit in 1712. It contained the

flint axe A flint axe was a Flint tool used during prehistoric times to perform a variety of tasks. These were at first just a cut piece of flint stone used as a hand axe but later wooden handles were attached to these axe heads. The stone exhibits a glass-l ...

found by

John Conyers John James Conyers Jr. (May 16, 1929October 27, 2019) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as a U.S. representative from Michigan from 1965 to 2017. The districts he represented always included part of western Detroit. ...

in 1679. By his will Kemp directed that the museum (with books) should be offered to

Lord Oxford Earl of Oxford is a dormant title in the Peerage of England, first created for Aubrey de Vere by the Empress Matilda in 1141. His family was to hold the title for more than five and a half centuries, until the death of the 20th Earl in 1703. ...

or his son for £2,000; The proposal was declined. Robert Ainsworth drew up an elaborate account of Kemp's antiquities entitled , 2 pts. London, 1719–20: John Ward supplied him with descriptions of the statues and

lares Lares ( , ; archaic , singular ''Lar'') were guardian deities in ancient Roman religion. Their origin is uncertain; they may have been hero-ancestors, guardians of the hearth, fields, boundaries, or fruitfulness, or an amalgam of these. Lares ...

, with a discourse , and which had been printed in 1719. The collection was then sold by auction at the Phœnix tavern in

Pall Mall, London Pall Mall is a street in the St James's area of the City of Westminster, Central London. It connects St James's Street to Trafalgar Square and is a section of the regional A4 road. The street's name is derived from pall-mall, a ...

on 23, 24, 25, and 27 March 1721, in 293 lots, for £1,090 8''s''. 6''d''. Six classical inscriptions, bought by Dr.

Richard Rawlinson Richard Rawlinson FRS (3 January 1690 – 6 April 1755) was an English clergyman and antiquarian collector of books and manuscripts, which he bequeathed to the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Life Richard Rawlinson was a younger son of Sir Thomas R ...

, went to Oxford, and appeared in the ''Marmora Oxoniensia''.

Notes

Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Kemp, John 1665 births 1717 deaths English antiquarians Fellows of the Royal Society