LEAKE, WILLIAM MARTIN (1777-186o)

This article appears in Volume V16, Page 329 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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LEAKE, WILLIAM MARTIN (1777-186o) , British antiquarian and topographer, was born in London on the 14th of January 1777. After completing his education at the Royal Military

Academy

ACADEMY, GREEK
ACADEMY, ROYAL

, Woolwich, and spending four years in the West Indies as lieutenant of marine artillery, he was sent by the government to Constantinople to instruct the Turks in this branch of the service. A journey through Asia

Minor

in 1800 to join the British

fleet

FLEET

at Cyprus inspired him with an

interest

INTEREST

in antiquarian topography. In 18oi, after travelling across the desert with the Turkish army to Egypt, he was, on the expulsion of the French, employed in surveying the valley of the Nile as far as the cataracts; but having sailed with the ship engaged to convey the

Elgin

ELGIN

marbles

MARBLES

from Athens to England, he lost all his maps and observations when the vessel foundered off Cerigo. Shortly after his arrival in England he was sent out to survey the

coast

COAST (from Lat. costa, a rib, side)

of Albania and the MVlorea, with the view of assisting the Turks against attacks of the French from Italy, and of this he took advantage to form a valuable collection of coins and

inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS (from Lat. inscribere, to write upon)

and to explore ancient sites. In 1807, war having broken out between Turkey and England, he was made prisoner at Salonica; but, obtaining his release the same year, he was sent on a diplomatic mission to Ali Pasha of Iannina, whose confidence he completely won, and with whom he remained for more than a year as British representative. In 1810 he was granted a yearly sum of 600 for his services in Turkey. In 1815 he retired from the army, in which he held the rank of colonel, devoting the remainder of his life to topographical and antiquarian studies, the results of which were given to the world in the following volumes: Topography of Athens (1821); Journal of a Tour in Asia

Minor

(1824); Travels in the Morea (183o), and a supplement, Peloponnesiaca (x846); Travels in Northern

Greece

GREECE

(1835); and Numismata Hellenica (1854), followed by a supplement in 1859. A characteristic of the researches of Leake was their comprehensive minuteness, which was greatly aided by his mastery of technical details. His Topography of Athens, the first attempt at a scientific treatment of the subject, is still authoritative in regard to many important points (see ATHENS). He died at Brighton on the 6th of January 186o. The

marbles

MARBLES

collected by him in

Greece

GREECE

were presented to the British Museum; his bronzes, vases, gems and coins were purchased by the university of

Cambridge

after his death, and are now in the Fitzwilliam Museum. He was elected F.R.S. and F.R.G.S., received the honorary D.C.L. at Oxford (1816), and was a member of the Berlin

Academy

ACADEMY, GREEK
ACADEMY, ROYAL

of Sciences and correspondent of the Institute of France.
See Memoir by J. H. Marsden (1864) ; the Architect for the 7th of October 1876; E. Curtius in the Preussische Jahrbdcher (Sept., 1876); J. E. Sandys, Hist. of Classical Scholarship, iii. (1908), p. 442.

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