John Coles (historian)

John Morton Coles, FBA, FSA HonFSAScot (25 March 1930 – 14 October 2020) was a Canadian historian and academic.

Life and career

Coles was born in Canada on 25 March 1930. He graduated from the University of Toronto in 1952 before working in commerce for 3 years. He began studying archaeology at the University of Cambridge in 1955 before moving to the University of Edinburgh to complete his PhD in 1957.[1]

He began teaching at the University of Cambridge in 1960 and was Director of Studies to Prince Charles while the prince studied at Trinity College.[2] He became professor of European Prehistory in 1980[1] and was a fellow of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge from 1963 until his death.[3]

Coles married archaeologist Bryony Coles in 1985. He left the University of Cambridge in 1986 and they moved to Devon. The couple did extensive research into the Somerset Levels which resulted in the establishment of a new branch of archaeology focusing on wetlands and in 1998, they received the Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) Award.[4]

Coles died on 14 October 2020.[1]

Honours and awards

Coles held a higher doctorate (DSc) from the University of Cambridge. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1963[5] and a Fellow of the British Academy (the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities) in 1978.[6] He received an honorary doctorate from Uppsala University, and was awarded the Grahame Clark Medal of the British Academy (1995), the Gold Medal of the Society of Antiquaries of London (2002), and the Gold Medal of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities (2009).[5]

References
  1. "John Coles obituary". the Guardian. 1 December 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  2. "Prince of Wales settles in at Cambridge university – archive, 9 Oct 1967". the Guardian. 9 October 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  3. Coles, John M. (1959). "The late bronze age in Scotland". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. "British Archaeological Awards". web.archive.org. 3 June 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  5. "Coles, John Morton", Who's Who (online ed., Oxford University Press, December 2018). Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  6. "Professor John Coles FBA", The British Academy. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
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