Thomas Ashby
| Thomas Ashby | |
|---|---|
| Born |
14 October 1874 Ashford Road, Staines, Middlesex |
| Died | 15 May 1931 (aged 56) London, England |
| Nationality | English |
| Fields | Archaeology, Topography, Classical studies |
| Institutions | The British School at Rome |
| Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
| Doctoral advisor | Francis John Haverfield and John Linton Myres |
| Known for | Roman topography |
Thomas Ashby FBA FSA (14 October 1874, Ashford Road, Staines, Middlesex – 15 May 1931, London) was a British archaeologist.
He was the only child of Thomas Ashby (1851–1906), and his wife, Rose Emma, daughter of Apsley Smith. His father belonged to the well-known Quaker family to whom belonged Ashby's brewery at Staines – this became a private company in 1886.
Stocky in figure, he had a tall and forceful head and a neat beard (first red and later white). His English and Italian were both equally brusque (John Ward-Perkins recalled a 'flow of impeccably idiomatic Italian spoken in an accent which to his dying day remained obstinately British'), and the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography calls him "shy with strangers, blunt with acquaintances, and devoted to his friends".
An exhibitioner at Winchester College (1887–93), Thomas there gained the lasting nickname Titus. Ashby won a scholarship at Christ Church, Oxford, studying under Francis John Haverfield and John Linton Myres, then gained a first-class degree in classical moderations (1895) and in literae humaniores (1897). Concentrating on Roman antiquities after 1897 (the year he was awarded a Craven fellowship), he next published his first article ('The true site of Lake Regillus', 1898), gained an Oxford degree of DLitt (1905) and won the Conington Prize for classical learning (1906).
Understanding of the city of Rome was then being transformed by a series of excavations, including renewed work on the Roman forum (started under Giacomo Boni in 1898), and Ashby wrote a regular series of reports on these developments for the Classical Review (1899–1906), The Times, the Times Literary Supplement, and the Antiquaries Journal (1921–5, 1930). (Also, in 1890, four years after the Staines brewery's privatisation, Ashby's father had settled in Rome, exploring the Campagna and becoming friends with Rodolfo Lanciani.)
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