This work draws together a series of pen portraits of some 40 individuals who helped to shape the foundations of English prehistoric study, mainly, but not exclusively, during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. They were a diverse cross-section of contemporary society, and included army officers, reverends, country squires and gentry, suicides, bankrupts, a probable illegitimate royal, a high churchmen, a tradesman and a farmer, plus a scion of the nobility and a superintendant of a 'lunatic asylum'.
Each individual has been graced with a portrait or a resemblance of some kind. As well as portraits, short biographies of each personality are embellished with appropriate illustrations, including depictions of digs, artefacts, views of archaeological sites and some of their more interesting tombs, together with other images associated with their activities.
The work will hopefully stand as an entertaining and instructive 'who's-who' of these early activists, together with an assessment of their importance in the study of the origins of English archaeology.
