274 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE 
Society; The Berkshire Archaeological Society; 
The Royal Archaeological Institute of Great Britain 
and Ireland;? The Prehistoric Society; and the 
Newbury and District Field Club. His interests 
were not restricted to archaeology; his letters reveal 
a knowledge of palaeontology, geology, ornithology, 
photography, aerial photography, antiques of all 
periods, anthropology, place-names, numismatics, 
experimental archaeology, restoration of furniture 
and archaeological objects and local dialect and 
folklore. 
Passmore was a character about whom there are 
many rumours, including that he was a diamond 
smuggler, as suggested by a character based on him 
in the novel The Trap* (Treherne 1985), and that he 
was the last Englishman out of King Tut’s tomb 
(Elliot? 1985, 11). Passmore was indeed an 
interesting character, and I have attempted to piece 
together his biography from his field notebook and 
the letters that he wrote to a variety of museum 
curators over the course of his life. From these it is 
possible to glean a sense of his personality. 
THE LIFE OF A.D. PASSMORE 
(1877 — 1958) 
Arthur Dennis Passmore (Figure 1) was the second 
son of Richard Keylock and Jane Passmore. The 
family owned a business at 29 and 30 Wood Street, 
Old Town, Swindon involved in antique dealing, 
paper hanging and cabinetmaking. His older 
brother, Hercules, was listed as working for the 
family business as a cabinetmaker in the 1891 
Census, while Arthur, then aged about 14, was 
listed as a ‘scholar’. Probably through the influence 
of his father, Arthur showed a keen interest in local 
history and archaeology from an early age. This is 
evident in his recollection of events such as his 
boyhood visit to the excavation by Henry Meux at 
Avebury in 1894 (Passmore 1935). The antique- 
dealing side of the Passmore family business 
introduced Passmore to the acquisition of objects, 
to local networks of dealers and collectors, and 
provided a suitable platform for the development of 
his interest in archaeology and local history. 
In 1937, Passmore wrote to Dr E. Curwen,° at 
the Lewes Museum, of going to a sale in London 
with his mother: ‘About forty years ago my late 
Mother bought these flints for me in Russell 
Square, I well remember going with her to some 
hotel where a man from Sussex had spread out his 
collection for sale and as a boy I picked out what 
Fig. 1 A.D. Passmore, photograph, from his field notebook 
(WANHS Library, Devizes] 
you now have’ (Passmore LM, 23 July 1937). 
Passmore did not go to university, but he was 
clearly intelligent, and filled with a natural 
curiosity about the world. His self-education 
through books and professional contacts were 
driven by his passion for archaeology and 
antiquities, and he became a respected member of 
the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History 
Society. His first articles, about a stone circle near 
Coate (see Burl, this volume) and barrows on 
Liddington Warren Farm, were published in the 
Society’s magazine in 1893 (Passmore 1893a, 1893b). 
The young Passmore was a keen photographer, a 
necessary skill in the antiques trade learned from his 
father (Passmore BM, April 30 1953). He was an 
avid walker, and weekly covered miles by foot on 
various routes around North Wiltshire, particularly 
to Avebury (Passmore ASH, Oct 24, 1955). 
Passmore started collecting archaeological and 
palaeontological specimens from the Swindon area 
in earnest around 1894. From the earliest days his 
collection consisted of objects he collected while on 
his walks, his excavating activities and his network 
of archaeological ‘informants’, including farm 
labourers, quarry diggers and others. Passmore 
wrote in his field notebook of men digging at a long 
