John_Abercromby,_5th_Baron_Abercromby

John Abercromby, 5th Baron Abercromby

John Abercromby, 5th Baron Abercromby

Scottish soldier and archaeologist (1841-1924)

John Abercromby, 5th Baron Abercromby of Tullibody FSA Scot FRSE (15 January 1841 – 7 October 1924)[1] was a Scottish soldier[2] and archaeologist.[3]

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Life

Abercromby was born in Tullibody House as the son of George Abercromby, 3rd Baron Abercromby, and Louisa Penuel Forbes,[4] and had two brothers and a sister. He was educated at Harrow School in London as a boarder.

Around 1860 he received a commission in the Rifle Brigade but resigned in 1870 having risen no higher than Lieutenant. During this period he saw no conflict but was posted in Canada for a year.[5]

After leaving the army in 1870 he devoted himself to languages, travel, and folklore. In 1904 he introduced the term beaker into the archaeological lexicon to describe the copper age drinking vessels being found all over western Europe.[6]

He moved to Edinburgh in 1895 living at 62 Palmerston Place.[7]

In 1898 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Lt Col Frederick Bailey, Alexander Buchan, John McLaren, Lord McLaren, and Peter Guthrie Tait.[8]

In 1911 he was still living at 62 Palmerston Place in Edinburgh's fashionable West End.[9]

He received an honorary doctorate from the University of Edinburgh with an honorary Doctorate of Law (LLD) in later life. On 3 October 1917, following the death of his elder brother George, he succeeded as the fifth Lord Abercromby. Prior to this he was styled the Hon. John Abercromby.

He supported the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and served as its president from 1913 to 1918. His will provided for the foundation of the Abercromby Chair of Archaeology at Edinburgh University, a post occupied by Vere Gordon Childe and Stuart Piggott.[10]

He died on 7 October 1924 and is buried in Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh at its east side, close to the main entrance.

Tullibody House was demolished following a fire in 1961.[11]

Family

Abercromby married his Swedish cousin, Adele Wilhelmina Marika von Heidenstern, on 26 August 1876. They had one daughter, Edla Louisa Montague Abercromby (b. 1877), who married Georges N. Nasos in 1906.

John and Adele divorced in 1879 after only three years of marriage. As he had no son, the Barony of Abercromby became extinct on his death.

Tullibody House
Lord Abercromby's grave, Dean Cemetery

Works

  • A trip through the Eastern Caucasus: with a chapter on the languages of the country, London: Edward Stanford, 1889
  • "The pre- and proto-historic Finns, both Eastern and Western: with the magic songs of the west Finns", Grimm Library, vol. 9–10, 2 vols, London: Nutt, 1898
    • vol. 1, vol. 1, vol. 2, vol. 2
    • Much of this material was first published as a series of articles by The Folklore Society in Folklore as 'Magic Songs of the Finns' : v.1 (1890), 17–46, 331–48; v.2 (1891), 31–49; v.3 (1892), 49–66; v.4 (1893), 27–49.
  • Haddon, A. C. (1912), "A study of the Bronze Age pottery of Great Britain and Ireland and its associated grave-goods", Nature, 2 vols (2236), Oxford: Clarendon Press: 2, Bibcode:1912Natur..90....2H, doi:10.1038/090002a0, S2CID 3971337

References

  1. [1]
    "Abercromby, John Abercromby, baron, 1841-1924 | The Online Books Page". onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  2. [2]
    "John Abercromby British Army officer: Latest News, Videos and Photos of John Abercromby British Army officer | Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  3. [3]
    "Lord John Abercromby". collections.ed.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  4. [4]
    SHARPE (Publisher.), John (1830). Sharpe's Peerage of the British Empire exhibiting its present state and deducing the existing descents from the ancient nobility of England, Scotland and Ireland.
  5. [5]
    "No. 23204". The London Gazette. 18 November 1864. p. 22.
  6. [6]
    The Athenaeum. J. Lection. 1912.
  7. [7]
    Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1895
  8. [8]
    Waterston, C. D. (2006). Former fellows of The Royal Society of Edinburgh, 1783-2002 : biographical index. A. Macmillan Shearer, Royal Society of Edinburgh. Edinburgh: The Royal Society of Edinburgh. ISBN 0-902198-84-X. OCLC 83595094.
  9. [9]
    Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1911
  10. [10]
    "The tradition of archaeology at Edinburgh". The University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  11. [11]
    "Tullibody House | Canmore". canmore.org.uk.

Sources

  • thePeerage.com
  • "ABERCROMBY", Who Was Who (1920–2007) (online ed.), A & C Black, Oxford University Press, December 2007
  • Letter of John Abercromby to Joseph Déchelette © Ville de Roanne - Musée Joseph Déchelette - Bibliothèque http://www.memo-roanne.fr/
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