AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE LIFE OF A.D. PASSMORE 281 
It always seemed strange that things in this collection 
figured by Hoare as perfect are now broken, it was 
unthinkable that they could have been smashed at 
Stourhead. It now appears that the Cunningtons 
went down themselves & brought it away without 
employing experienced packers & smashed the pots 
by their lack of knowledge of moving things. B.H.C. 
said at a meeting at the Museum in March 1940 ‘We 
moved the Stourhead Coll, & have been repairing 
ever since’. I heard him say this. (ADP unpublished, 
435) 
Alexander Keiller shared Passmore’s contempt for 
the Cunningtons (Roberts 2002). Passmore was 
quick to befriend Keiller soon after he arrived on 
the Wiltshire archaeology scene. He seemed to 
identify with Keiller more than other members of 
the WANHS because they had both been in ‘trade’, 
and were therefore of a similar social standing. In 
June 1933 Passmore wrote to Keiller about the 
snobbery at WANHS, ‘... you must not forget that at 
one time I was engaged in business and as such am a 
very low person to be familiar with. . .(Passmore 
KM, 15 June, 1933). Keiller replied, ‘I quite see what 
you mean as regards the possible snobbery of the 
WAS members. ..’ [and that Keiller had] ‘.. .been in 
business ...in trade... [and] that perhaps I have not 
got any very fine sensibilities concerning social 
distinction, which personally I consider not only 
arbitrary but fictitious at best’(Keiller KM, June 29, 
1933). Passmore and Keiller were acquainted for 
much of the 1930s, and both found fault in some of 
the local archaeological work carried out by the 
Cunningtons. In 1934, Keiller wrote to O.GS. 
Crawford about spending some time with Passmore: 
We [Keiller and Stuart Piggott] had a stupendous 
afternoon two days ago with Passmore — I always 
seem to get on awfully well with Passmore — and on 
this occasion he was remarkably illuminating; his 
mind is positively an encyclopaedia on local 
archaeological information. Some of his stories of the 
Cunningtons shook even me up a bit, to say nothing 
of the photographs of ‘Adam’ before its fall and after 
its re-erection. I blame anyone who saw the first 
photograph and the result of Mrs. Cunnington’s 
handiwork and yet tacitly permitted her to have 
another shot at the stone in the Avenue. (Keiller KM, 
June 27, 1934) 
This friendship ended when Passmore, Keiller and 
Stuart Piggott collaborated in the excavation of a 
chamber that Passmore had discovered in the 
Lanhill Long Barrow in 1936: 
In Oct 1936 I directed the job of putting a fence 
round the S. chamber and was there each day from 
7:30 til 4:30, nothing found in the holes dug to take 
the upright... Keiller and Piggott let me pay all 
expenses & then put me off time after time then 
printed the report behind my back. Dirty. Piggott did 
the same to General Hardy who discovered Ladle 
Hill SW of Newbury, he dug there secretly & Hardy 
got the blame for doing so without permission, P got 
all the praise & goes free. (ADP unpublished, 206 — 
207) 
Less than fifty years after his death, Passmore 
remains largely forgotten in the history of both the 
WANHS and of archaeology in Wiltshire, despite 
his life-long dedication to both causes. His 
tendency to fall out with fellow members of the 
WANHS was probably a large factor in his decision 
to look for an alternative to the WANHS Museum 
for the permanent accommodation of his collection. 
In 1941 he shared his concern over the future of his 
objects with W.J.Arkell: 
After much suffering have at last become fed up with 
Cunnington, the fussy little Welshman and have 
refused to send my things to Devizes and have now 
no home for them, one could not send the work of a 
lifetime to Swindon, have a good mind to make a will 
ordering the whole lot to be sold. (Passmore UMNH, 
Dec 7, 1941) 
In the last years of his life, Passmore seemed to 
feel that his efforts were no longer appreciated by 
the WANHS. Passmore wrote to Brailsford at the 
British Museum, and said that Devizes would get 
nothing from him: ‘After working for them for over 
60 years they treat me badly, the usual way. In Wilts 
there is an old saying “A kick for a Kindness”.’ 
(Passmore BM, May 18, 1953). 
PASSMORE AND HIS 
COLLECTION 
Passmore’s zeal for local history and archaeology is 
evident in both his publications and _ his 
outstanding collection. While his archaeological 
collection may be of more interest here, it is 
important to note that he also collected, and had an 
almost expert knowledge of, fine British and 
Oriental ceramics, fossils,!! antique furniture, 
paintings, books, and Classical antiquities. It is 
likely that most of his antiques were amassed 
during his time running the family business. He 
