NEWTON, SIR CHARLES THOMAS (1816-1894)

This article appears in Volume V19, Page 583 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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NEWTON, SIR CHARLES THOMAS (1816-1894) , British archaeologist, was born on the 16th of September 1816; at Bredwardine in Herefordshire, and educated at Shrewsbury School and Christ Church, Oxford. He entered the British Museum in 184o as an assistant in the Antiquities Department. Antiquities, classical, Oriental and medieval, as well as ethnographical objects, were at the time included in one department, which. had no classical archaeologist among its officers. In 1852 Newton quitted the Museum to become vice-

consul

at Mitylene, with the object of exploring the coasts and islands of Asia

Minor

. Aided by funds supplied by Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, then British

ambassador

AMBASSADOR (also EMBASSADOR, the form sometimes still used in America; from the Fr. ambassadeur, with which compare Ital. ambasciatore and Span. embajador, all variants of the Med. Lat. ambassiator, ambassiator, ambasator, &c., derived from Med. Lat. amba

at Constantinople, he made in 1852 and 1855 important discoveries of

inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS (from Lat. inscribere, to write upon)

at the island of Calymnos, off the coast of

Caria

CARIA

; and in 18561857 achieved the

great

GREAT

archaeological exploit of his life by the discovery of the remains of the mausoleum of

Halicarnassus

HALICARNASSUS (mod. Budrum)

, one of the " seven wonders " of the ancient world. He was greatly assisted by Murdoch

Smith

, afterwards celebrated in connexion with Persian telegraphs. The results were described by Newton in his History of Discoveries at

Halicarnassus

HALICARNASSUS (mod. Budrum)

(1862-1863), written in conjunction with R. P. Pullan, and in his Travels and Discoveries in the Levant (1865). These works included particulars of other important discoveries, especially at. Branchidae, where he disinterred the statues which had anciently lined the Sacred Way, and at Cnidos, where R. P. Pullan, acting under his direction, found the colossal lion now in the British Museum.
In 1855 Newton declined the regius professorship of Greek at Oxford. In x86o he was made British

consul

at Rome, but had scarcely entered upon the post when an opportunity presented itself of reorganizing the amorphous department of antiquities at the British Museum, which was divided into three and ultimately four branches. The Greek and Roman section naturally fell to Newton, who returned as Keeper, and held the office until 1885, declining the offer of the principal librarianship made to him in 1878. The Mausoleum Room, to accommodate the treasures he had found in Asia

Minor

, was built under his super-vision, but the most brilliant episode of his administration was the acquisition of the Blacas and Castellani gems and sculptures. The Farnese and Pourtales,collections were also acquired by him. He took a leading part in the foundation of the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies, the British School at Athens, and the Egypt Exploration Fund. He was Yates professor, of classical archaeology at University College, London, from 188o to 1888. His collected Essays on Art and Archaeology were published in 1886. When, on his retirement from the Museum, his bust by Boehm, now placed in one of the sculpture galleries, was presented to him as a testimonial, he desired the unexpended balance to be given to the school at Athens. After his retirement he was much occupied with the publication of the Greek

inscriptions

INSCRIPTIONS (from Lat. inscribere, to write upon)

in the British Museum, but his health failed greatly in the latter years of his life. He died at Margate on the 28th of November 1894. He married in 1861 the daughter of his successor in the 'consulate at Rome, the painter Severn, herself a distinguished artist. She died in 1866. (R. "G.)

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