51 Facts About Herbert Maryon

Herbert James Maryon was an English sculptor, conservator, goldsmith, archaeologist and authority on ancient metalwork.

Herbert Maryon is best known for his work on the Sutton Hoo ship-burial, which led to his appointment as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

Herbert Maryon designed the University of Reading War Memorial, among other commissions.

Herbert Maryon published two books while teaching, including Metalwork and Enamelling, and many articles.

Herbert Maryon frequently led archaeological digs, and in 1935 discovered one of the oldest gold ornaments known in Britain while excavating the Kirkhaugh cairns.

In 1944 Herbert Maryon was brought out of retirement to work in the Sutton Hoo finds.

Herbert Maryon's responsibilities included restoring the shield, the drinking horns, and the iconic Sutton Hoo helmet, which proved academically and culturally influential.

The initial work ended in 1950, and Herbert Maryon turned to other matters.

Herbert Maryon proposed a widely publicised theory in 1953 on the construction of the Colossus of Rhodes, influencing Salvador Dali and others, and restored the Roman Emesa helmet in 1955.

Herbert Maryon left the museum in 1961, a year after his official retirement, and began an around-the-world trip lecturing and researching Chinese magic mirrors.

Herbert James Maryon was born in London on 9March 1874.

Herbert Maryon was the third of six surviving children born to John Simeon Maryon, a tailor, and Louisa Maryon.

Herbert Maryon had an older brother, John Ernest, and an older sister, Louisa Edith, the latter of whom preceded him in his vocation as a sculptor.

Herbert Maryon obtained first class South Kensington certificates in drawing from life, antique, light and shade, and other subjects.

At some point, though perhaps later, Herbert Maryon worked in the workshop of George Frampton, and was taught by Robert Catterson Smith.

From 1900 until 1939, Herbert Maryon held various positions teaching sculpture, design, and metalwork.

The exhibition was reviewed by The International Studio, with Herbert Maryon's work singled out as "agreeable".

In March 1900 Herbert Maryon became the first director of the Keswick School of Industrial Art.

Herbert Maryon described the casket's lock as "enamelled in pearly blue and white", and giving "a dainty touch of colour to a form almost bare of ornament, but beautiful in its proportions and lines".

Hot water jugs, tea pots, sugar bowls and other tableware that Herbert Maryon designed were frequently raised from a single sheet of metal, retaining the hammer marks and a dull lustre.

Eight full-time workers helped execute the designs when Herbert Maryon joined in 1900, rising to 15 by 1903.

In July 1901 Collinson had left due to a poor working relationship, and Herbert Maryon was often in conflict with the school's management committee, which was chaired by Edith Rawnsley and frequently made decisions without his knowledge.

When in August 1904 Carpenter, in friction with Herbert Maryon, resigned, the committee decided to give Herbert Maryon three-months' notice.

Herbert Maryon left the school at the end of December 1904.

Herbert Maryon spent 1905 teaching metalwork at the Storey Institute in Lancaster.

At some point towards 1908, Herbert Maryon gave instruction in crafts under the Westmorland County Council.

In January 1908, Herbert Maryon was appointed teacher of crafts are the University of Reading, effective 10 February; he took over from Julia Bowley, who resigned as teacher of woodcarving and handicraft.

Until 1927, Herbert Maryon taught sculpture, including metalwork, modelling, and casting, at the school.

Herbert Maryon was the warden of Wantage Hall from 1920 to 1922.

Herbert Maryon described it as eschewing "the artistic or historical point of view", in favor of an "essentially practical and technical standpoint".

Herbert Maryon began this work in 1915, officially as organising secretary and instructor at the Ministry of Munitions Training Centre, with no engineering school to build from.

Herbert Maryon displayed a child's bowl with signs of the zodiac at the ninth Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society exhibition in 1910.

In September 1927 Herbert Maryon left the University of Reading and began teaching sculpture at Armstrong College, then part of Durham University, where he stayed until 1939.

Around 1928, Herbert Maryon travelled around Europe, from Reading to Denmark, followed by Copenhagen, Gothenburg, Stockholm, Danzig, Warsaw, Vienna, Dresden, Leipzig, Berlin, Hamburg, and elsewhere, returning to lecture on the sculpture observed on the trip.

Herbert Maryon wrote that his aim was to discuss modern sculpture "from the point of view of the sculptors themselves", rather than from an "archaeological or biographical" perspective.

At Durham, as at Reading, Herbert Maryon was commissioned to create works of art.

On 11 November 1944 Herbert Maryon was recruited out of retirement by the trustees of the British Museum to serve as a Technical Attache.

Herbert Maryon, working under Harold Plenderleith's leadership, was tasked with the conservation and reconstruction of material from the Anglo-Saxon Sutton Hoo ship-burial.

From 1945 to 1946, Herbert Maryon spent six continuous months reconstructing the Sutton Hoo helmet.

Herbert Maryon began the reconstruction by familiarising himself with the fragments, tracing and detailing each on a piece of card.

Herbert Maryon published the finished reconstruction in a 1947 issue of Antiquity.

Herbert Maryon's work was celebrated, and both academically and culturally influential.

Herbert Maryon finished reconstructions of significant objects from Sutton Hoo by 1946, although work on the remaining finds carried him to 1950; at this point Plenderleith decided the work had been finished to the extent possible, and that the space in the research laboratory was needed for other purposes.

Herbert Maryon continued working at the museum until 1961, turning his attention to other matters.

In 1955 Herbert Maryon restored the Roman Emesa helmet for the British Museum.

Herbert Maryon's view was nevertheless influential, likely shaping Salvador Dali's 1954 surrealist imagining of the statue, The Colossus of Rhodes.

Herbert Maryon finally left the British Museum in 1961, a year after his official retirement.

Herbert Maryon donated a number of items to the museum, including plaster maquettes by George Frampton of Comedy and Tragedy, used for the memorial to Sir W S Gilbert along the Victoria Embankment.

Herbert Maryon devoted much of his time during the American stage of his trip to visiting museums and the study of Chinese magic mirrors, a subject he had turned to some two years before.

In July 1903 Herbert Maryon married Annie Elizabeth Herbert Maryon.

Herbert Maryon lived the majority of his life in London, and died on 14 July 1965, at a nursing home in Edinburgh, in his 92nd year.