Life
William Greenwell was born 23 March 1820 in the estate known as Greenwell Ford near Lanchester, County Durham, England. He was the eldest son of his father William Thomas Greenwell (1777–1856) and mother Dorothy Smales. He had three younger brothers Francis, Alan, and Henry Nicholas Greenwell, and a sister Dorothy (1821–1882) who published poetry under the name Dora Greenwell.
After an early education by Rev. George Newby, he attended Durham School. One of his schoolmates was Henry Baker Tristram. He matriculated at University College, Durham in October 1836 and graduated with his BA in June 1839. He starting training to be a barrister at Middle Temple, but did not like London so returned to Durham in 1841 to study theology. He received an Master of Arts in 1843. Greenwell was ordained a deacon by Bishop Edward Maltby June 30, 1844 and priest June 28, 1846. He was bursar of University College in Durham from 1844 to 1847.
His family estate included the site of the ancient Roman fort Longovicium. As a child he and his brother Frank would scoop out soil covering the camp, leading to his interest in archaeology. He was a founding member of the Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club in 1846, and later that year toured Germany and Italy. In 1852 he became principal of Neville Hall in Newcastle upon Tyne. In August 1852 he presented a paper at an Archaeological Institute there. In March of 1864 he excavated fourteen barrows at the site of Danes Graves (a site within the Arras Culture of the British Iron Age) and was later criticized by ex-MP and sheriff William Harrison-Broadley for his poor excavation technique . Greenwell later undertook a large-scale excavation of 53 barrows at Danes Graves alongside John Robert Mortimer between 1897-98.
Greenwell was appointed canon at Durham Cathedral from 1854 to his death, so was often known as Canon Greenwell. He was also appointed librarian of Durham from 1862. In 1868 he was elected into the Society of Antiquaries of London. Greenwell is noted for his work on the Grimes Graves along with his treatises on electrum coinage of Cyzicus.
He is also known as originator of "Greenwell's Glory", used in fly fishing. His fishing and hunting skills developed in early childhood on the River Browney.
One of his students was Augustus Pitt Rivers. Greenwell died 27 January 1918.
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“I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)
“The problem is simply this: no one can feel like CEO of his or her life in the presence of the people who toilet trained her and spanked him when he was naughty. We may have become Masters of the Universe, accustomed to giving life and taking it away, casually ordering people into battle or out of their jobs . . . and yet we may still dirty our diapers at the sound of our mommy’s whimper or our daddy’s growl.”
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“When he who adores thee has left but the name
Of his fault and his sorrows behind,
O! say wilt thou weep, when they darken the fame
Of a life that for thee was resign’d!”
—Thomas Moore (1779–1852)