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{{Short description|English archaeologist (1862–1939)}}
{{for|the English art historian|Ernest Arthur Gardner (art historian)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{EngvarB|date=January 2020}}
'''Ernest Arthur Gardner''' (16 March 1862{{snd}}27 November 1939) was an English [[archaeologist]]. He was the director of the [[British School at Athens]] between 1887 and 1895.

==Early life==
Gardner was born in [[Clapton, London|Clapton]], London, England on 16 March 1862<ref name=Venn>{{acad|id=GRDR880EA|name=Gardner, Ernest Arthur}}</ref> to Thomas Gardner and Ann Pearse.<ref name=DoAH>{{cite web|title=Gardner, Ernest A(rthur)|url=http://www.dictionaryofarthistorians.org/gardnere.htm|publisher=Dictionary of Art Historians|accessdate=25 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120615174951/http://www.dictionaryofarthistorians.org/gardnere.htm|archive-date=15 June 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> He was educated at the [[City of London School]], a [[Single-sex education|boys']] [[Private schools in the United Kingdom|private]] day school located in the [[City of London]]. He entered [[Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge]] in 1880. He read for a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in [[Classical Tripos|Classics]] and graduated with a [[British undergraduate degree classification#Double first-class honours|double first]]{{Broken anchor|date=2025-08-01|bot=User:Cewbot/log/20201008/configuration|target_link=British undergraduate degree classification#Double first-class honours|reason= The anchor (Double first-class honours) [[Special:Diff/721908206|has been deleted]].|diff_id=721908206}} in 1884.<ref name=Venn />

==Career==

===Early academic career===
Gardner became a [[fellow]] of Gonville and Caius College in 1885.<ref name="EB1911">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Gardner, Percy|display=Gardner, Percy s.v. Ernest Arthur Gardner|volume=11|page=462}}</ref> In 1885 and 1886, as part of the [[Egypt Exploration Society]], he was involved in the excavations at [[Naucratis]], Egypt. He became a student of the [[British School at Athens]] under [[Francis Penrose]] in 1886.<ref name=DoAH /> From 1887 to 1895 he was director of the school.<ref name=Venn /> During his first term as director, he led excavations at [[Kouklia|Old Paphos]] and [[Salamis, Cyprus|Salamis]] in Cyprus.<ref name=DoAH /> When his directorship was extended in 1891,<ref name="Ox DNB" /> he led an excavation in [[Megalopolis, Greece|Megalopolis]], Greece.<ref name=DoAH />

After resigning from the British School at Athens in 1895,<ref name=DoAH /> he took up the position of [[Yates Professor of Classical Art and Archaeology]] at the [[University of London]] in 1896, and held that position until 1929.<ref>https://www.ucl.ac.uk/library/about-us/newsletter/issue-31/ {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2025}}</ref> He became editor of [[The Journal of Hellenic Studies]] in 1897.<ref name=DoAH /> He was [[Dean (education)|dean]] of the [[Faculty of Arts]] of the University of London from 1905 to 1909 and again from 1913 to 1915.<ref name="Ox DNB" /> He was elected as the first Public Orator of London University in 1910.<ref name=Venn />

===Military service===
At the outbreak of [[World War I]],<ref name=Venn /> Gardner was commissioned into the [[Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve]] as a [[Lieutenant commander (Royal Navy)|lieutenant commander]].<ref name=DoAH /> He served as a [[Naval Intelligence Division (United Kingdom)|naval intelligence officer]] at [[Salonika]], [[Greece]] from 1915 to 1917.<ref name="Ox DNB" /> While based there, he organised the removal of the area's archaeological remains to the protection of the [[White Tower of Thessaloniki]]. For this action, he was awarded the Gold Cross of the [[Order of the Redeemer]] in 1918 by the Greeks.<ref name="Ox DNB" /> In late 1917 he returned to England and joined the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]]. He continued his service in naval intelligence until early 1919.<ref name="Ox DNB" />

===Later career and life===
Gardner resigned from his positions as Public Orator of London University in 1929<ref name=Venn /> and as editor of The Journal of Hellenic Studies in 1932.<ref name=DoAH /> He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of London between 1924 and 1926.<ref name=Venn /> From 1929 to 1932, he was president of the [[Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies|Hellenic Society]].<ref name="Ox DNB" /> He continued lecturing at the University of London until 1933.<ref name=DoAH />

Gardner died on 27 November 1939 in [[Maidenhead]], Berkshire, United Kingdom.<ref name=Venn />

==Personal life==
Gardner married Mary Wilson (died 1936) in 1887.<ref name=DoAH /> Together they had one son and two daughters.<ref name="Ox DNB">{{cite web|title=Gardner, Ernest Arthur (1862–1939)|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com.libezproxy.open.ac.uk/view/article/33327|work=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|publisher=Oxford University Press|accessdate=25 June 2012|author=J. M. C. Toynbee|author2=H. D. A. Major|name-list-style=amp|year=2004}}</ref> His daughter [[Phyllis Gardner (British writer)|Phyllis Gardner]] was a writer and artist, whose relationship with poet [[Rupert Brooke]] has come to light with two 2015 publications.

His sister [[Alice Gardner]] was a historian and his brother, [[Percy Gardner]], was also an archaeologist.<ref>
Gillian Sutherland, 'Gardner, Alice (1854–1927)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/48491, accessed 21 Feb 2017]</ref>

==Select works==
His publications include: ''Introduction to Greek Epigraphy'' (1887); ''Ancient Athens'' (1902); ''Handbook of Greek Sculpture'' (1905); ''Six Greek Sculptors'' (1910);<ref name="EB1911"/> "Poet and Artist in Greece: With Illustrations" (1933; Japanese translation by Keiji Kokubu available, Sogensha Press, 1944).

==See also==
* [[List of Vice-Chancellors of the University of London]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
{{wikisource|works=or}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=9356| name=Ernest Arthur Gardner}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Ernest Arthur Gardner}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-aca}}
{{Succession box
| before = [[Holburt Jacob Waring|Sir Holburt Jacob Waring Bt CBE FRCS]]
| title  = [[List of Vice-Chancellors of the University of London|Vice-Chancellor of the<br>University of London]]
| years  = 1924–1926
| after  = [[William Beveridge|The Baron Beveridge PC KCB]] 
}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gardner, Ernest Arthur}}
[[Category:1862 births]]
[[Category:1939 deaths]]
[[Category:English archaeologists]]
[[Category:People educated at the City of London School]]
[[Category:Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Directors of the British School at Athens]]
[[Category:Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Royal Navy officers of World War I]]