OBITUARIES 



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for the native peoples of the Province. In some ways 

 this later period of his life was his most fertile and 

 revolutionary. The Cotswold region and its vicinity 

 were central to his thinking. He wondered whether 

 some of the great so-called 'villa' complexes such as 

 at Chedworth near Cirencester and Box, Wiltshire, 

 were conventional residences or were in fact parts of 

 religious sanctuaries. He was for instance specially 

 impressed by the great relief of a hunter-god from 

 Box and other items from the latter site including a 

 votive eye. One of us, writing on religion and art in 

 Roman Britain under his tutelage, for he was 

 academic editor of the Batsford Archaeological 

 Series, found his comments on the originality of the 

 Britons under Rome an inspiration. He pointed to 

 the splendid plaque depicting Minerva from 

 Lavington, Wiltshire, as a key work in demonstrating 

 how 'the Celts imparted new life and vigour in the 

 process of copying' and placed it on the cover of his 

 own book. When urging the purchase of the 

 reproduction available in Devizes Museum, he said 

 'You won't find anything more beautiful from the 

 Province'. 



While all these books are of continuing value to 

 ancient historians and academic archaeologists, 

 Graham's handbook, Practical Archaeology (1963) 

 is a clear guide to students of archaeological method. 

 He went on to create the Roman Pottery Studies 

 Research Group and his contribution to this field 

 was recognised by his Festschrift, published in 1 98 1 

 Roman Pottery Research in Britain and North-West 

 Europe. He was also instrumental in founding the 

 Council for British Archaeology Air Photography 

 Committee, which from the 1950s propagated 

 archaeological knowledge derived from this 

 expanding discipline and led ultimately to the 

 establishment of the Air Photographs Unit and 

 Library of the National Monuments Record, initially 

 under the English Royal Commission on Historical 

 Monuments. In the early 1 990s the Unit and Library 

 moved from London to its new home at Swindon, 

 Wiltshire, and is now under the aegis of English 

 Heritage. Graham's interests were apparently 

 limitless. Always very anxious to help others to share 

 his enthusiasm, he encouraged students not only in 

 his own branches of the subject but with rare empathy 

 anyone with something to contribute. Countless 

 numbers of former students and those who sought 

 his advice became devoted friends.To them he would 

 expound his new (and sometimes revolutionary 

 ideas) about Roman Britain, pointing out how much 

 more there was to know about everything. 



As Archaeological Advisor to Batsford he was 

 instrumental in commissioning a prodigious list of 

 works, most especially in Roman studies, reading 

 each volume meticulously in typescript and making 

 numerous pertinent comments in his distinctive 

 hand. Writing a book for Graham was a privilege, 

 an education in itself. In his letters as when one 

 met him erudition was combined with warmth . . . 

 but one had to meet him to experience his rich 

 laughter and the twinkle in his eyes. Batsford 

 published his last book, Archaeologist at Large 

 (1991), a collection of fascinatingly varied papers 

 and a bibliography of nearly three hundred of his 

 works. 



Graham took a close interest in the excavations 

 of the spectacular Roman villa in Littlecote Park 

 on the Wiltshire border. When the Roman Research 

 Trust was founded as a result of this project he was 

 a natural choice as Trustee but when that 

 organisation broke into two factions he offered his 

 services to the former Friends which had reformed 

 itself as the Association for Roman Archaeology, 

 and he became its first President. Other honours 

 included the OBE in 1982, election as 

 Corresponding Member of the Deutschen 

 Archaologischen Instituts in 1965, and the degree 

 of DLitt in 1987. Beyond his own academic studies 

 he was an assiduous reader especially in 

 anthropology (Sir James Frazer being a favourite) 

 and psychology (and he was especially versed in 

 the writings of Jung) . He was a sensitive connoisseur 

 of the fine arts as well as of the applied arts, notably 

 majolica and jade. 



Even in the 1 990s he loved sharing his knowledge 

 in day and weekend schools at numerous venues 

 including Devizes, and visiting Roman sites and 

 excavations such as those at Blunsdon and 

 Chiseldon, near Swindon, for by this time he had 

 retired from Chesterton, Warwickshire to the 

 tranquillity of the Wiltshire village of Sevenhampton. 

 In his last illness he was cared for by his wife, ably 

 assisted by Luigi Thompson, the archaeological 

 illustrator who shared their home. His funeral took 

 place in the theatrical atmosphere he so loved, 

 accompanied by six Roman soldiers and the sound 

 of Roman cornu trumpets. The laurel wreaths placed 

 on the coffin of the great scholar, saluted as the 'Last 

 of the Romans' provided a fitting end for a man who 

 from first to last gave pleasure to so many people. 

 May he rest in peace. He is survived by Diana his 

 wife and by two sons from his first marriage. 



MARTIN HENIG and GRAHAME SOFFE 



