John Robert Mortimer

Template:Use British English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox person John Robert Mortimer (15 June 1825 – 19 August 1911) was an English corn-merchant and archaeologist who lived in Driffield, East Riding of Yorkshire.

He was responsible for the excavation of many of the notable barrows in the Yorkshire Wolds, including Duggleby Howe, recorded in the work Forty Years Researches in British and Saxon Burial Mounds of East Yorkshire.

He established a dedicated museum of archaeology at Driffield, one of the first of its kind. His excavations represent early examples of the application of scientific methods to the study of burial mounds; his written work and excavated finds remain a valuable resource in British archaeology.

Biography

John Robert Mortimer was born at Fimber in the Yorkshire Wolds on 15 June 1825, the eldest of three children of a local farmer; he received a village school education at Fridaythorpe. In adult life he operated as a corn merchant, moving to the nearby larger town of Driffield in 1869; in the same year marrying Matilda née Mitchell, daughter of the vicar of Sancton and of Holme on the Wolds. His business included trade in seed, manure and fertiliser, and included malt kilns and a brewery as assets.Template:Sfn

Mortimer's interest was stimulated by visits to the 1851 Great Exhibition, and the geological and archaeological exhibits in the British Museum,Template:Sfn Template:Sfn and by the private collection of Edward Tindall of Bridlington.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn<ref group="note">Edward Tindall (d.1877), of Bridlington, collector of geologic and archaeologic specimens.<ref>Template:Harv It was the Great London Exhibition of 1851 that first decided my taste for scientific inquiry. Afterwards, Mr. Edward Tindall's geological and archaeological collections at Bridlington fired me with a strong desire to make a similar collection.</ref> Some of Tindall's collection were found to be modern, and from the hand of Edward Simpson (aka Flint Jack), a contemporary manufacturer of flint tools, also known as a forger.<ref>Template:Cite ODNB</ref> Tindall also excavated barrows in the Yorkshire Wolds,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and investigated the fossil record of the area.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref></ref> Together with his brother Robert, Mortimer assembled a small collection of fossil and antiquarian specimens; they also trained and instructed many local farm workers to collect any likely specimens they found;Template:Sfn locally such artefacts became known colloquially as 'Mortmers'.Template:Sfn During the latter part of the 19th century the area became a magnet for collectors, in part due to publicity from his collection; most sought ancient stone, flint and bronze weapons.Template:Sfn Competition arose for these artefacts, causing a rise in their monetary value. Through their contacts with local agricultural workers the Mortimers were able to collect a great many thousands of specimens.Template:Sfn

In the late 1850s, Mortimer began recording the linear earthworks of the local area.Template:Sfn In the 1860s, he began to excavate barrows; his first excavation was 4 May 1863 at High Towthorpe.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn<ref group="note">The site was designated as a scheduled monument in 1966<ref>Template:National Heritage List for England</ref></ref> Many of his excavations took place between 1863 and 1879, and were self-financed from his own business;Template:Sfn in 1878 Mortimer opened a purpose built museum in Driffield.Template:Sfn

After the 1870s, an agricultural depression caused the price of grain to decrease (see Repeal of the 1846 Corn Laws), he became bankrupt in 1887 owing £1,800; the expenditure on the museum, and on excavation both contributing significantly.Template:Sfn Mortimer continued to excavate, but often under the financial backing of other persons.Template:Sfn

Over his archaeological career he excavated over 300 such mounds, the bulk of his work was recorded in his magnum opus "Forty Years' Researches in British and Saxon Burial Mounds of East Yorkshire" (1905).Template:Sfn Template:Sfn He also excavated the Iron Age graveyard known as Danes Graves, or Danesdale.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Citation</ref> Mortimer sometimes worked with his brother Robert, and also worked with the antiquarians Canon William Greenwell and Thomas Boynton.Template:Sfn

John Robert Mortimer died at home in Driffield on 19 August 1911. He had six children, five of whom survived him.Template:Sfn

Scientific method and legacy

Mortimer's fieldwork and recording compares favourably with his contemporaries.Template:Sfn His investigations include the recording of crop marks,Template:Sfn and made plaster casts of post holes on site.Template:Sfn He made stratigraphic observations, but these often lacked detail,Template:Sfn some of his reporting has been shown to contain errors by later investigations.Template:Sfn Mortimer made good records of his work, he was aided in Forty Years' Researches.. by his daughter Agnes Mortimer, an artist, who when she was still a teenager did the sketches of her father's antiquities later published in the book.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Mortimer credits Agnes in the preface to his volume: "For the sketches of the specimens figured in this book, and for numerous illustrations used elsewhere, I am solely indebted to my daughter Agnes, who from the time she was thirteen years of age until she was nineteen, devoted many of her leisure hours to the completion of this, which at her age, must have been a tedious and irksome task.”<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Mortimer applied the scientific method to his work in an attempt to infer the past, rather than being a pure collector of curiosities.Template:Sfn Though initially driven by curiosity he was also motivated a desire to gain and preserve knowledge of ancient inhabitants of the land; he was concerned that much evidence was being increasingly rapidly destroyed by changes in farming methods, such as intensive ploughing.Template:Sfn Template:Harvtxt comments that "[Mortimer] can be regarded as one of the earliest rescue archaeologists".

File:MortimerMuseum.JPG

A Mortimer case in the Hull and East Riding Museum

In 1913, the Mortimer collection was acquired by Colonel G.H. Clarke and given to the City of Hull.Template:Sfn From 1929, the collection was displayed in the Victoria Galleries (part of Hull City Hall), as the Mortimer Museum. It was transferred to the Transport and Archaeology Museum on High Street in 1956.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref group="note">Since 1989 named The Hull and East Riding Museum</ref> It now forms an important part of the collection of the Hull and East Riding Museum, and remains an important contribution to British prehistoric archaeology.Template:Sfn The Mortimer collection contains over 66,000 provenanced pieces from barrows, and a further several thousands of un-provenanced surface finds.Template:Sfn

File:Masonic lodge Driffield.jpeg

Masonic Hall, Lockwood Street, Driffield

Mortimer's Driffield museum was an early example of a purpose built museum, it later functioned as a Masonic Lodge, and is now known as the 'Masonic Hall'. It became a listed building in 1996.<ref>Template:National Heritage List for England</ref>