Series RAS TGM/17 - 1944 – Sir John Marshall

John Hubert Marshall was born in Chester in 1876. He graduated from Kings College Cambridge and in 1902 was appointed Director-General of Archaeology within the British Indian administration. Marshall modernised the approach to archaeology, introducing a programme of cataloguing and conservation of ancient monuments and artefacts. In 1913, he began the excavations at Taxila, which lasted for twenty years. In 1918, he laid the foundation stone for the Taxila Museum, which today hosts many artifacts and one of Marshall's few portraits. He then moved on to other sites, including the Buddhist centres of Sanchi and Sarnath. His work provided evidence of age of Indian civilisation especially Indus Valley Civilization and Mauryan age (Ashoka's Age). Marshall was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in June 1910 and knighted in January 1915.