Arthur Evans - Senior Trustee

Senior Trustee

All the excavations at Knossos were done on leave of absence from the museum. "While the Keeper’s salary was not generous, the conditions of residence were very liberal ... the keeper could and should travel to secure new acquisitions". But in 1908 at the age of 57 he resigned his position to concentrate on writing up his Minoan work. In 1912 he refused the opportunity to become President of the Society of Antiquaries, a position which his father had already held. But in 1914 at the age of 63, when he was too old to take part in the War, he took on the Presidency of the Antiquaries which carried with it an ex officio appointment as a Trustee of the British Museum and he spent the War successfully fighting the War Office who wanted to commandeer the museum for the Air Board. He thus played a major role in the history of the British Museum as well as in the history of the Ashmolean Museum.