Mortimer Wheeler

Sir Mortimer Wheeler CH CIE MC TD FSA FRS FBA
Mortimer Wheeler in 1956
Born	Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler 10 September 1890 Glasgow, Scotland
Died	22 July 1976(1976-07-22) (aged 85) Leatherhead, Surrey, England
Nationality	British
Fields	Archaeology
Education	Bradford Grammar School
Alma mater	University College London
Influences	Augustus Pitt-Rivers
Spouse	Tessa Wheeler (m.1914–36) Mavis de Vere Cole (m.1939–42) Margaret Collingridge Wheeler (m.1945–76)

Sir Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler CH, CIE, MC, TD, FSA, FRS, FBA (10 September 1890 – 22 July 1976) was a British archaeologist and officer in the British Army. Over the course of his career, he served as Director of both the National Museum of Wales and London Museum, Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India, and the founder and Honorary Director of the Institute of Archaeology in London, further writing twenty-four books on archaeological subjects.

Born in Glasgow to a middle-class family, Wheeler was raised largely in Yorkshire before relocating to London in his teenage years. After studying Classics at University College London (UCL), he began working professionally in archaeology, specializing in the Romano-British period. During World War I he volunteered for service in the Royal Artillery, being stationed on the Western Front, where he rose to the rank of major and was awarded the Military Cross. Returning to Britain, he obtained his doctorate from UCL before taking on a position at the National Museum of Wales, first as Keeper of Archaeology and then as Director, during which time he oversaw excavation at the Roman forts of Segontium, Y Gaer, and Isca Augusta with the aid of his first wife, Tessa Wheeler. Influenced by the archaeologist Augustus Pitt Rivers, Wheeler argued that excavation and the recording of stratigraphic context required an increasingly scientific and methodical approach, developing the "Wheeler Method". In 1926, he was appointed Keeper of the London Museum; there, he oversaw a reorganisation of the collection, successfully lobbied for increased funding, and began lecturing at UCL.