276 THE WILTSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY MAGAZINE 
Roman well at North Farm, Aldbourne; a barrow at 
Smeeth’s Ridge, Ogbourne; collected surface finds 
from rabbit holes from Barrow 40, Fargo 
Plantation, the Okus Quarry in Swindon and the 
Winterbourne Stoke Group of Barrows. He 
acquired a 14th-century carved oak ‘bench end’, 
which he placed on loan in the Department of 
Woodwork at the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 
November 1913 he was nominated as a fellow to the 
Royal Anthropological Institute. 
Despite being almost 40, Passmore served in 
Worid War I, with the 4th Wiltshire Regiment in 
India, before being transferred to the Mechanical 
Transport Corps. In August 1916 Passmore wrote to 
Hercules Read from Peshawar on the North West 
Frontier: 
While talking to a man from Tibet, he told me of a 
necklace of stone beads that he had procured there. 
He gave me two and I was interested to notice that 
they were exactly like some from our Wilts Barrows 
only smaller ‘Pulley Beads’. The holes at the base 
meet inside (drawing). I think I could get two for the 
B.Museum if you think them of sufficient interest for 
comparison with the English ones. Carpenters out 
here use a peculiar iron axe-hammer, which seems to 
be a descendant of a stone axe in its holder; it is in 
two pieces thus (drawing). If there is anything I can 
do as regards archaeology on this Frontier would be 
delighted to do it, in the way of obtaining required 
specimens or information of tribal customs. 
(Passmore BM, 1 August 1916) 
He later mentioned having been to Afghanistan, 
and around the Himalayan foothills. 
In 1917, Passmore returned to England, having 
achieved the rank of Quarter Master Sergeant, and 
was stationed at I.W. & D.R.E. Henbury, Bristol. 
He began to correspond with Herbert Bolton at 
Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery about objects 
in their collections. In one of his letters to Bolton, 
Passmore mentioned that during a recent visit to 
the museum he had noticed that there were no local 
flint specimens on display. He offered one that he 
had found in Henbury Camp, which was accepted 
into the museum’s collections’ (Passmore BR, 27 
November 1917). He returned to Swindon in 1918. 
His brother had been killed in the war, which left 
him to run the family business with the help of his 
elderly parents. 
Passmore joined the Prehistoric Society in 
1919, and was a member until the year before his 
death. He continued to be an active member of the 
Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History 
Society. Field trips included a ten-day tour of Wales 
as well as an excursion to France to examine 
mounds for comparison with Silbury Hill 
(Passmore 1920a). He also excavated the south side 
of a standing stone in a hedge east of Stanton 
Fitzwarren [Wiltshire SMR no. SU19SE552], the 
plan of which is included in his field notebook. He 
read a paper on hammerstones to the Prehistoric 
Society at their Norwich meeting on 18 October 
1920, and used his own observations from Africa to 
elucidate their use in prehistoric England 
(Passmore 1920b). Even in his late 40s, he 
continued to excavate. From 1926 to 1928 his 
excavations included Barrow 12 (Goddard) at 
Ogbourne St. Andrew; Barrow 1 (Goddard) at 
Ogbourne St. George; and Chiseldon 2 (Goddard), 
all reported in the Wiltshire Archaeological and 
Natural History Magazine (Passmore 1928). 
Figure 2: Callas House, Wanborough, in 1960 (SU213 832), 
the home of A.D. Passmore from 1928 — 1958. (© Crown 
copyright. NMR. Ref: AA71/323) 
In 1927 Passmore’s parents died and he retired 
from the antiques business and travelled to Greece. 
The following year he moved to Callas House, 
Wanborough (Figure 2), in the company of Miss 
Smith, his housekeeper. Callas House was a large 
17th-century farmhouse with a small amount of 
land and outbuildings. He had a photography 
studio in the stables, and was kept busy by the 
demands of maintaining the property, which 
included an apple orchard. By many accounts, 
Callas House became a private museum, with most 
of his collection on display. 
Passmore continued to correspond with the 
Keepers at the British Museum about a variety of 
topics. In a letter to Reginald Smith, he commented 
on the model of the ‘Wiltshire type’ of barrow that 
the British Museum had on display (Figure 3). 
Fieldwork throughout the 1930s included 
excavating the Giants Long’ Barrow at 
