Record

Code	DS/UK/3
Dates	1863-1952
Person Name	Kenyon; Sir; Frederic George (1863-1952); Greek and biblical scholar and museum director
Surname	Kenyon
Forenames	Frederic George
PreTitle	Sir
Epithet	Greek and biblical scholar and museum director
Source	CWGC Archive, WG 517
Biographical Note	Sir Frederic George Kenyon GBE KCB TD FBA FSA was a Greek and biblical scholar and museum director. He was the Commission's honorary artistic advisor from 1917 until 1948; a role he fulfilled alongside his position as Director of the British Museum. Frederic George Kenyon was born on 15 January 1863. He was educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford. In 1903, he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy and was later their President from 1917 to 1921. He was appointed the Director and Principal Librarian of the British Museum in 1909 and President of the Classical Association in 1913. He held the office of Gentleman Usher of the Purple Rod of the British Empire from 1918 to 1952. Kenyon was a Fellow of Winchester College and an Hon. Fellow of Magdalen and New Colleges, Oxford. During the First World War, Frederic Kenyon was a Major (temporary Lt. Col.) in the Territorial Force (Inns of Courts). He served with the British Expeditionary Force in France from August to September 1914 and with his regiment until 1919. In November 1917, Kenyon was appointed as the Imperial War Graves Commission's Artistic Adviser. He visited the battlefields of France and Belgium and compiled a report in which he submitted the chief governing principles for the architectural treatment and laying out of war cemeteries. The Commission adopted his recommendations in the practise of its constructional work. Kenyon was a strong supporter of the principle of equality of treatment and made constant visits to the Commission's cemeteries as they were developed. After 1928, Sir Frederic Kenyon remained Honorary Artistic Adviser until his retirement from the Commission in 1948, when was succeeded by Sir Edward Maufe. He died on 23 August 1952, aged 89.
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