William Stukeley: Difference between revisions

| image_size = 220px

| caption = Portrait of Stukeley attributed to Richard Collins

| birth_place = [[Holbeach]], [[Lincolnshire]], [[Kingdom of England|England]]

| death_place = [[Kentish Town]], [[Middlesex]], [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great  Britain]]

| nationality = [[Kingdom<!-- ofuse England|English]]/[[Kingdomonly ofwhen Greatnecessary Britain|Britishper [[WP:INFONAT]] -->

'''William Stukeley''' {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|FRS|FSA}} (7 November 1687&nbsp;– 3 March 1765) was an English [[antiquarian]], physician and [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] clergyman. A significant influence on the later development of [[archaeology]], he pioneered the scholarly investigation of the prehistoric monuments of [[Stonehenge]] and [[Avebury]] in [[Wiltshire]]. He published over twenty books on archaeology and other subjects during his lifetime.

Born in [[Holbeach]], [[Lincolnshire]], as the son of a lawyer, Stukeley worked in his father's law business before attending [[Corpus Christi College, Cambridge|Bene't College]], [[University of Cambridge|Cambridge]]. In 1709 he began studying medicine at [[St Thomas' Hospital]], [[Southwark]], before working as a [[general practitioner]] in [[Boston, Lincolnshire|Boston]], Lincolnshire. From 1710 till 1725 he embarked on annual tours of the countryside, seeking out archaeological monuments and other features that interested him; he wrote up and published several accounts of his travels. In 1717, he returned to London and established himself within the city's antiquarian circles. In 1718 he was elected a Fellow of the [[Royal Society]] and became the first secretary of the [[Society of Antiquaries of London]]. In 1721 he became a [[Freemasonry|Freemason]] and in 1722 co-founded the Society of Roman Knights, an organisation devoted to the study of [[Roman Britain]]. In the early 1720s, Stukeley developed a particular interest in Stonehenge and Avebury, two prehistoric [[stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany|stone circles]] in Wiltshire. He visited them repeatedly, undertaking fieldwork to determine their dimensions.

In 1726 Stukeley relocated to [[Grantham]], Lincolnshire, where he married. In 1729 he was ordained as a cleric in the [[Church of England]] and appointed vicar of [[All Saints' Church, Stamford|All Saints' Church]] in [[Stamford, Lincolnshire|Stamford]], Lincolnshire. He was a friend of the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] [[William Wake]], who encouraged him to use his antiquarian studies to combat the growth of [[deism]] and [[freethought]] in Britain. To this end, Stukeley developed the belief that Britain's ancient [[druidsdruid]]s had followed a [[monotheism|monotheistic]] religion inherited from the [[Patriarchs (Bible)|Biblical Patriarchs]]; he called this druidic religion "Patriarchal Christianity". He further argued that the druids had erected the stone circles as part of serpentine monuments symbolising the [[Trinity]]. In 1747 he returned to London as rector of [[St George the Martyr, Holborn]]. In the last part of his life, he became instrumental in British scholarship's acceptance of [[Charles Bertram]]'s forged ''[[Description of Britain]]'' and wrote one of the earliest biographies of his friend, [[Isaac Newton]].