Ralph Merrifield

Ralph Merrifield
Photograph of Merrifield
Born	22 August 1913 Brighton, England
Died	9 January 1995 (aged 81) London, England
Citizenship	United Kingdom
Nationality	English
Fields	Archaeology Curator
Institutions	Brighton Museum Guildhall Museum Museum of London
Alma mater	Varndean College
Known for	Study and new interpretation of the archaeology of London and the archaeology of ritual and magic.

Ralph Merrifield (22 August 1913 – 9 January 1995) was an English museum curator and archaeologist. Described as "the father of London's modern archaeology",^[1] Merrifield was a specialist in both the archaeology of Roman London and the archaeology of magical practices, publishing six books on these subjects over the course of his life.

Born in Brighton, Merrifield began his archaeological career as an assistant at Brighton Museum while attaining an external degree in anthropology from the University of London. He served in the Royal Air Force during World War II, and then in 1950 became the Assistant Keeper of the Guildhall Museum in London. In 1956, he relocated to Accra to organise the opening of the new National Museum of Ghana, before returning to work at the Guildhall Museum. Here he produced a synthesis of known material on the archaeology of Roman London, published as The Roman City of London in 1965.

In 1975, following the amalgamation of the Guildhall Museum with the London Museum to establish the new Museum of London, Merrifield was appointed Senior Keeper, and soon after was promoted to the position of Deputy Director. In 1978, he retired from this position but remained active within the archaeological community, publishing both The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic in 1987 as well as further studies of Roman London. Also giving public lectures across the country, he was a keen supporter of the Standing Conference on London Archaeology, a body designed to monitor what he saw as the negative impact that English Heritage was having on the city's archaeology.

Biography

Early life and the Guildhall Museum: 1913–74

Merrifield was born on 22 August 1913 in the Southern English coastal city of Brighton.^[2] He was raised primarily by his mother, his father having died when Merrifield was three years old.^[3] He undertook his sixth form studies at the Municipal School for Boys, and it was whilst doing, in 1930, that he began working at the Brighton Museum as an assistant to the museum curator H. S. Toms, himself a former assistant of the archaeologist Augustus Pitt Rivers.^[3] Inspired by the museum's ethnographic collection which he had helped catalogue, Merrifield embarked on a University of London external degree which he completed in 1935; although its main focus was in anthropology, the degree had also allowed him to take intermediate courses in botany.^[3] It was during this that he developed a keen interest in the archaeological evidence for both religion and for the magical practices that took place in Britain's past.^[1]

Interior of the National Museum of Ghana

Following the outbreak of the Second World War, in 1940 Merrifield was conscripted into the Royal Air Force and in 1943 he was transferred to its intelligence division, specialising in the interpretation of aerial photographs. As a result of this, he was posted to both India and Java.^[4] After the conflict ended in 1945, he returned to work at Brighton Museum.^[3]

In 1950, Merrifield took a post as Assistant Keeper of the Guildhall Museum in London, a job that he would retain until 1975.^[5] At the time the museum lacked a premises, with Merrifield assisting the Keeper Norman Cook in establishing an exhibit at the Royal Exchange in 1954.^[3] During these post-war years the city's archaeological community was largely preoccupied with salvaging the Roman and Medieval structures that were damaged by The Blitz and the subsequent urban redevelopment.^[6] In 1951 Merrifield married Lysbeth Webb, a colleague at the Guildhall Museum, and together they went on to have one son and one daughter.^[7]

In November 1956, Merrifield was sent to Accra in Ghana to establish the National Museum of Ghana. The museum was due to be constructed in time for the day of Ghana's officially achieved independence in April 1957, with its exhibits having previously been part of the University Museum of Ghana, however upon arrival Merrifield found that the construction was delayed.^[8] Returning to the Guildhall after six months, he campaigned for the archaeological excavation of sites prior to their redevelopment, resulting in the establishment of the Department of Urban Archaeology at the Guildhall Museum in 1973.^[9]

In 1962, he published his first important academic paper, a study of Roman coins found at the bottom of the River Walbrook.^[6] Although not a specialist in any one particular aspect of Romano-British archaeology, he was able to synthesise a wide range of evidence to develop a picture of life in Londinium, the Roman settlement located in the City of London,^[10] publishing The Roman City of London in 1965.^[1] The project had been suggested to him two years previously by the publisher Ernest Benn, and represented the first detailed study of Roman London to be published for 35 years.^[1] To produce it, Merrifield had catalogued all known Romano-British remains in the city, further providing suggestions for where additional archaeological remains were likely located.^[1] The archaeologist W. F. Grimes described it as "a landmark in the study of Roman London" while the later archaeologist Harvey Sheldon called it "a masterful historical synthesis".^[6] The book established Merrifield's reputation to a wider audience.^[6] He followed this with two works aimed at a general audience, Roman London (1969), in which he looked at evidence for Romano-British occupation across the wider Greater London area, and then The Archaeology of London (1975), in which he surveyed the archaeological evidence of the region from the Palaeolithic through to the Early Middle Ages.^[6]

Museum of London and retirement: 1975–95

Merrifield helped establish the Museum of London

In 1975 he became the Senior Keeper of the Museum of London, being promoted to the position of Deputy Director in 1977,^[10] and being responsible for designing the Museum's first Roman gallery.^[1] From 1976 to 1978 he served as President of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society.^[10] Merrifield retired in 1978,^[11] and a festschrift, entitled Collectanea Londiniensia: Studies in London Archaeology and History Presented to Ralph Merrifield, was published in his honour.^[1] Recognising his many years service to the archaeological field, the University of London awarded him an honourary doctorate.^[12]

During his retirement, he continued to take an active role in researching London's past.^[10] In 1983, he published London: City of the Romans, in which he updated his account of Londinium with information obtained over the previous decade and a half.^[13] His book The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic appeared in 1987,^[14] and was written to combat what Merrifield identified as a widespread neglect of ritual aspects in the archaeological record.^[6] Concurring with Merrifield's assessment about this widespread neglect, the later archaeologist Roberta Gilchrist described it as a "rare contribution" to the discipline.^[15] The historian of religion Hilda Ellis Davidson praised the "cautious and balanced arguments" of Merrifield's work, opining that it should be read by every archaeologist as a corrective to what she thought was their widespread ignorance of folklore.^[16]

Merrifield was uneasy with the changes made to London's archaeological establishment by English Heritage during the early 1990s, strongly supporting the establishment of the Standing Conference on London Archaeology to monitor English Heritage's actions.^[6] He also continued to talk on archaeological subjects, with his final lecture, "Magic Protection of the Home", being given to extra-mural students in Northampton in December 1994.^[6] Following a short illness, he died of cardiac arrest in King's College Hospital, London, on 9 January 1995,^[17] leaving behind his wife, children, and grandchildren.^[6]

Legacy

Merrifield came to be known as the "father of London's modern archaeology",^[1] with Harvey Sheldon describing him as the "father figure" of London archaeology.^[6] According to fellow archaeologist W. F. Grimes, it was Merrifield's "work in and about London" which earned him "an honoured place in British Archaeology".^[18] In Merrifield's obituary in British Archaeology magazine, Max Hebditch, the Director of the Museum of London, described him as being both "generous with his knowledge and friendship" and "energetic and active to the end".^[10] Sheldon stated that he was "universally loved and admired", having done "more than anyone else, both by example and influence", to place London's archaeology on a firm footing.^[6] Writing in The Independent, Peter Marsden commented on Merrifield's "quiet manner" which "obscured a steely determination" to advance scholarship.^[1]

Bibliography

A bibliography of Merrifield's published work, including books, articles, and book reviews, was compiled by John Hopkins and Jenny Hall and included as part of his 1978 festschrift.^[19]

Year of publication	Title	Publisher
1965	The Roman City of London	Benn (London)
1969	Roman London	Frederick A. Praeger (New York)
1973	A Handbook to Roman London	Guildhall (London)
1975	The Archaeology of London	Greenwood Press (Santa Barbara)
1983	London: City of the Romans	B. T. Batsford (London)
1987	The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic	B. T. Batsford (London)

References

Footnotes

1. Marsden 1995.
2. Grimes 1978, p. 1; Hebditch 1995; Marsden 1995.
3. Grimes 1978, p. 1; Marsden 1995.
4. Grimes 1978, p. 1; Marsden 1995; Sheldon 1995, p. 298.
5. Grimes 1978, p. 1; Hebditch 1995; Marsden 1995; Sheldon 1995, p. 298.
6. Sheldon 1995, p. 298.
7. Grimes 1978, p. 1; Hebditch 1995.
8. Grimes 1978, p. 2; Marsden 1995.
9. Hebditch 1995; Sheldon 1995, p. 298.
10. Hebditch 1995.
11. Marsden 1995; Pace 1995.
12. Hebditch 1995; Marsden 1995; Pace 1995.
13. Marsden 1995; Sheldon 1995, p. 298.
14. Hebditch 1995; Marsden 1995; Sheldon 1995, p. 298.
15. Gilchrist 2008, p. 119.
16. Ellis Davidson 1988, p. 129.
17. Hebditch 1995; Pace 1995.
18. Grimes 1978, p. 2.
19. Hopkins & Hall 1978, pp. 3–7.

Bibliography

Ellis Davidson, Hilda (1988). "Review of Ralph Merrifield's The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic". The Antiquaries Journal 68. p. 129.

Gilchrist, Roberta (2008). "Magic for the Dead? The Archaeology of Magic in Later Medieval Burials". Medieval Archaeology 52. pp. 119–160.

Grimes, W. F. (1978). "Ralph Merrifield". In Joanna Bird; Hugh Chapman; John Clark. Collectanea Londiniensia: Studies in London Archaeology and History Presented to Ralph Merrifield. London: London and Middlesex Archaeological Society. pp. 1–2.

Hebditch, Max (1995). "Obituary: Ralph Merrifield". British Archaeology 2. Archived from the original on 11 November 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2015.

Hopkins, John; Hall, Jenny (1978). "A Bibliography of the Published Works of Ralph Merrifield". In Joanna Bird; Hugh Chapman; John Clark. Collectanea Londiniensia: Studies in London Archaeology and History Presented to Ralph Merrifield. London: London and Middlesex Archaeological Society. pp. 3–7.

Marsden, P. (1995). "Obituary - Ralph Merrfield". The Independent. Retrieved 1 October 2015.

Pace, Eric (January 16, 1995). "Ralph Merrifield, Expert on London In the Roman Era". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 October 2015.

Sheldon, Harvey (1995). "Obituary: Ralph Merrifield". London Archaeologist 7 (11): 298. Retrieved 1 October 2015.