- Julius Caesar
Sir Julius Caesar (1557/58 - 18 April 1636) was an English judge and politician. He was born near Tottenham in Middlesex. His father was Giulio Cesare Adelmare, an Italian physician to Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth, descended by the female line from the dukes of Cesarini. He was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, and afterwards studied at the University of Paris, where in the year 1581 he was made a doctor of civil law. - Neil MacGregor
Robert Neil MacGregor (born June 16, 1946 in Glasgow, Scotland) is an art historian and museum director. - Hans Sloane
Sir Hans Sloane, Bart. was an Ulster-Scot physician and collector, notable for bequeathing his collection to the British nation which became the foundation of the British Museum. He also invented milk chocolate and gave his name to Sloane Square in London. - George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856-2 November 1950) was an Irish dramatist, literary critic, and socialist. During his career Shaw wrote more than sixty plays. He was uniquely honoured by being awarded both a Nobel Prize (1925) for his contribution to literature and an Oscar (1938) for "Pygmalion". He was a strong advocate for socialism and women's rights, a vegetarian and teetotaller, and a harsh critic of formal education. - George Smith
George Smith (Chelsea, London March 26, 1840 - August 19, 1876), was a pioneering English Assyriologist who first discovered and translated the "Epic of Gilgamesh", the oldest-known written work of literature. - William Hamilton
Sir William Douglas Hamilton, KB, PC (December 13, 1730 - April 6, 1803) was a Scottish diplomat, antiquarian, archaeologist and vulcanologist. Hamilton was the fourth son of Lord Archibald Hamilton, governor of Jamaica. He served in the army from 1747, but left it after his marriage to Catherine Barlow, daughter of MP Hugh Barlow, on January 25, 1758. Catherine died on August 25, 1782. The couple had no children. - E. A. Wallis Budge
Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge (July 27, 1857 - November 23, 1934) was an English Egyptologist, Orientalist, and philologist who worked for the British Museum and published numerous works on the ancient Near East. - John Taylor
Sir John Taylor KCB FRIBA (15 November 1833 - 30 April 1912) was a British architect. The assistant surveyor for London from 1866 onwards, he was known as a reliable (albeit pedestrian) architect and was responsible for several public building projects in the capital. Taylor's most active period as an architect began in 1879 with the construction of Bow Street Magistrates' Court. - Robert Brown
Robert Brown (December 21, 1773-June 10, 1858) is acknowledged as the leading British botanist to collect in Australia during the first half of the 19th century. Brown was born in Montrose, Scotland on 21 December 1773. He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, where he was a classmate of Thomas Dick. He joined the army as a surgeon in 1795. - David Lodge
David Lodge (born January 28, 1935 at London, England) is a British author. - Leonard Woolley
Charles Leonard Woolley (17 April, 1880-20 February, 1960) was a British archaeologist best known for his excavations at Ur in Mesopotamia. He is considered to have been one of the first "modern" archaeologists, and was knighted in 1935 for his services to archaeology. The son of a clergyman, Woolley was born in London and educated at St John's School, Leatherhead and New College, Oxford. In 1905, he became assistant keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. - Angus Wilson
Angus Frank Johnstone Wilson (August 11,1913-May 31, 1991) was a British novelist and short story writer. He received a knighthood for his services to literature. Wilson was born in Bexhill, Sussex, England, to an English father and South African mother. He was educated at Merton College, Oxford, and in 1937 became a librarian in the British Museum's Department of Printed Books, working on the new General Catalogue. His first publication was a collection of short stories, … - Mary Delany
Mary Delany, nee Granville (14 May 1700 - 15 April 1788) was an English Bluestocking, artist, and writer. She was born at Coulston, Wiltshire, a niece of the 1st Lord Lansdowne. In 1717 or 1718 she was unhappily married to Alexander Pendarves, a wealthy Cornish landowner considerably her senior, who died in 1724. During a visit to Ireland she met Jonathan Swift and his close friend, the Irish cleric, Patrick Delany, whom she married in 1743. - Shalmaneser III
Shalmaneser III was king of Assyria (859 BC-824 BC), and son of the previous ruler, Ashurnasirpal II. His long reign was a constant series of campaigns against the eastern tribes, the Babylonians, the nations of Mesopotamia and Syria, as well as Kizzuwadna and Urartu. His armies penetrated to Lake Van and the Taurus Mountains; the Hittites of Carchemish were compelled to pay tribute, and the kingdoms of Hamath and Aram Damascus were subdued. - Robert Anderson
Dr Robert Geoffrey William Anderson, MA, DPhil was Director of the British Museum, London. Robert Anderson studied at St John's College, Oxford University. He has held posts at the Royal Scottish Museum (joining as Assistant Keeper in 1970), the Science Museum, London, the National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh and at the British Museum, London (1992–2002). - Thomas Wright
Thomas Wright (November 9, 1809 - November 17, 1884) was a Scottish surgeon and palaeontologist. Wright published a number of papers on the fossils which he had collected in the Cotswolds, including "Lias Ammonites of the British Isles". Wright was born in Paisley and studied at the Royal college of Surgeons in Dublin. In 1846 he moved to Cheltenham, where he became medical officer of health to the urban district, and surgeon at Cheltenham General Hospital. - Bernard Quaritch
Bernard Quaritch (April 23, 1819 - December 17, 1899) was a German-born British bookseller and collector. He was born at Worbis, Germany. After being apprenticed to a bookseller, he went to London in 1842, and was employed by Henry Bohn, the publisher. In 1847 he started a bookseller's business off Leicester Square, becoming naturalized as a British subject. In 1848 he started to issue a monthly "Catalogue of Foreign and English Books". - George Shaw
George Shaw (December 10, 1751 - July 22, 1813) was an English botanist and zoologist. Shaw was born at Bierton, Buckinghamshire and was educated at Magdalen Hall, Oxford, receiving his M.A. in 1772. He took up the profession of medical practitioner. In 1786 he became the assistant lecturer in botany at Oxford University. He was a co-founder of the Linnean Society in 1788, and became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1789. - Gavin de Beer
Sir Gavin Rylands de Beer FRS (1899–1972) was a British evolutionary embryologist, director of the British Museum (Natural History) and president of the Linnean Society. - Edmund Gosse
Edmund William Gosse (September 21, 1849 - May 16, 1928) was an English poet, author and critic, the son of Philip Henry Gosse and Emily Bowes. - Hormuzd Rassam
Hormuzd Rassam (1826 - 16 September, 1910) was an Assyrian Assyriologist and traveller who made a number of important discoveries, including the stone tablets that contained the "Epic of Gilgamesh", the worlds oldest literature. - Max Mallowan
Sir Max Edgar Lucien Mallowan, CBE (6 May, 1904–19 August, 1978) was a prominent British archaeologist, specialising in ancient Middle Eastern history, and the second husband of the novelist Dame Agatha Christie. He was born in London, educated at Lancing College, and studied classics at New College, Oxford. He first worked as an apprentice to Leonard Woolley at the archaeological site of Ur (1925–31), which was thought to be the capital of Mesopotamian civilization. - Anthony Panizzi
Sir Antonio Genesio Maria Panizzi (Brescello, 17 September 1797 - London, 8 April 1879), better known as Anthony Panizzi, was a naturalized British librarian of Italian birth and an Italian patriot. </br>He was born in Brescello in the province of Reggio Emilia, Italy, and obtained a degree in law from the University of Parma in 1818. - Scopas
Scopas or Skopas (Σ&;#954;όπ&;#945;ς) ("c".395 BC-350 BC) was an Ancient Greek sculptor and architect, born on the island of Paros. Scopas worked with Praxiteles, he sculpted parts of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, especially the reliefs. He led the building of the new temple of Athena at Tegea. Similar to Lysippus, Scopas is in his art a successor of the Classical Greek sculptor Polyclitus. - Jessica Rawson
Professor Dame Jessica Rawson, DBE, DLitt, FBA (born January 20 1943) is the Warden of Merton College (1994-), Professor of Chinese Art and Archaeology (since 2000) and a Pro-Vice-Chancellor (since 2006) at Oxford University. Primarily an art historian, Rawson's academic background is in Sinology (the study of China), with a particular research focus on the Cosmology of the Han period (206 BC-AD 220) and its relation to tombs and their decoration. - Henry Salt
Henry Salt (June 14, 1780 - October 30, 1827) was an English artist, traveler, diplomat, and Egyptologist. Salt, the son of a physician, was born in Lichfield. He trained as a portrait painter, first in Lichfield and then in London under Joseph Farington and John Hoppner. In 1802 he was appointed secretary and draughtsman to George Annesley, Viscount Valentia. They started on an eastern tour, traveling to India via the Cape. - Charles Saumarez Smith
Dr. Charles Robert Saumarez Smith (born May 28, 1954 in Redlynch, England) is an English art historian and museum director. He is director of the National Gallery and the secretary-designate of the Royal Academy of Arts, having announced his resignation from the National Gallery in March 2007. He was formerly President of the Museums Association. In addition, he is a Visiting Professor at Queen Mary, University of London. - John Sell Cotman
John Sell Cotman (May 16, 1782 - July 28, 1842), was an artist of the Norwich school and an associate of John Crome. He was born in Norwich, England and worked mainly in watercolour, but also produced architectural etchings. He spent virtually all his life in England, apart from three trips to Normandy financed by rich patrons. He moved to London at the age of sixteen, and was based there for the rest of his life. His sons, Miles Edward Cotman and John Joseph Cotman, … - Charles Burney
Charles Burney D.D. (December 4, 1757 - December 28, 1817) was an English classical scholar and clergyman. He was the son of Charles Burney, the music historian, and the brother of novelist Fanny Burney. The Reverend Burney's splendid collection of rare books and manuscripts was ultimately bought by the nation for the British Museum. - Nicholas Reeves
Carl Nicholas Reeves (born 28 September 1956) is an English Egyptologist. After studying history at UCL, he obtained his doctorate in Egyptology at the University of Durham. He worked at the department of Egyptian antiquities of British Museum and as consultant for the Freud Museum, London. - Kathleen Kenyon
Dame Kathleen Mary Kenyon, important English archaeologist of Neolithic culture in the Fertile Crescent and excavator of a small area of Jericho in israel from 1952 to 1958. Her father, Sir Frederic Kenyon, was Director of the British Museum. Kathleen Kenyon was a graduate of Somerville College, Oxford, and was the first woman to become president of the Oxford Archaeological Society. - Henry Ellis
Sir Henry Ellis (November 29, 1777 - January 15, 1869) was an English librarian. He was born in London and educated at the Mercers' School and Oxford University, where he acted as an assistant at the Bodleian Library. He was first appointed to a position at the British Museum in 1800, and was chief librarian from 1827 to 1856, although Anthony Panizzi was effectively the administrative head from 1837. Ellis was knighted in 1833. - Daniel Solander
Daniel Carlsson Solander or Daniel Charles Solander was a Swedish botanist. Solander was born in Piteå, Norrland, Sweden and was the son of a Lutheran principal. He enrolled at Uppsala University in July 1750 and studied languages and the humanities. The professor of botany was the celebrated Carolus Linnaeus who was soon impressed by young Solander's ability and accordingly persuaded his father to let him study natural history. - John Edward Gray
John Edward Gray (February 12, 1800 - March 7, 1875) was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray (1766-1828). John Gray was Keeper of Zoology at the British Museum in London from 1840 until Christmas 1874. He published several catalogues of the museum collections that included comprehensive discussions of animal groups as well as descriptions of new species. - Richard Garnett
Richard Garnett (February 27, 1835 - April 13, 1906) was a scholar, librarian, biographer and poet. He was son of Richard Garnett, an assistant keeper of Printed Books in the British Museum. Born at Lichfield, and educated at a school in Bloomsbury, he entered the British Museum in 1851 as an assistant librarian. In 1875, he became superintendent of the Reading Room, in 1881, editor of the General Catalogue of Printed Books, and in 1890 until his retirement in 1899, … - Martin Lings
Martin Lings (Abu Bakr Siraj Ad-Din). After completing his doctorate, Lings worked at the British Museum and later British Library, overseeing eastern manuscripts and other textual works, rising to the position of Keeper of Oriental Printed Books and Manuscripts 1970-73. A writer throughout this period, Lings output increased in the last quarter of his life. While his thesis work on Ahmad al-Alawi had been well-regarded, his most famous work was a biography about Muhammad, … - David M. Wilson
Sir David Mackenzie Wilson, KB (born October 30 1931) is an archaeologist, specialising in the Viking Age, and a museum director. He was the director of the British Museum from 1977 to 1992. - Alfred Stevens
Alfred Stevens, British sculptor, was born at Blandford Forum in Dorset. He was the son of a house painter and in the early part of his career he painted pictures in his spare time. In 1833, the rector of his parish enabled him to go to Italy, where he spent nine years studying at Naples, Rome, Florence, Milan and Venice. He had never been at an English school. In 1841, Bertel Thorvaldsen employed him for a year in Rome. - Lionel Giles
Lionel Giles was Keeper of the Department of Oriental printed Books and Manuscripts at the British Museum. He is most famous for his 1910 translation of Sun Tzu's The Art of War which has now passed in to the public domain. His edition of The Art of War is noted for, among other things, its scathing refutations of the previous translations made by British officer E.F. Calthrop. Also noteworthy are his translations: The Sayings of Lao Tzu, The Sayings of Confucius, … - Charles Fellows
Sir Charles Fellows (August, 1799 - 8 November, 1860) was a British archaeologist. Fellows was born at Nottingham, where his family had an estate. When fourteen he drew sketches to illustrate a trip to the ruins of Newstead Abbey, which afterwards appeared on the title-page of Moore's "Life of Lord Byron". In 1820 he settled in London, where he became an active member of the British Association. In 1827 he discovered the modern ascent of Mont Blanc.
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