Bernard Ashmole Bernard Ashmole , CBE , MC ( 1894 , Ilford , Essex – 1988 , Peebles , Scotland ) was a British archaeologist and art historian , who specialized in ancient Greek sculpture . He held a number of professorships during his lifetime ; Classical Archaeology at the University of London between 1929 and 1948 , Classical Archaeology at University of Oxford between 1956 and 1961 , and Greek Art and Archaeology at the University of Aberdeen between 1961 and 1963 . He was also Keeper of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the British Museum from 1939 to 1956 . Early life . Ashmole was born on 22 June 1894 in Ilford , Essex to William Ashmole and Caroline Wharton Tiver . He was a descendent of antiquarian Elias Ashmole . He was privately educated before attending the independent Forest School from 1903 to 1911 . He matriculated into Hertford College , University of Oxford in 1913 having been awarded the Essex Scholarship in Classics . Career . World War I service . With the outbreak of World War I , he left university to join the British Army . He was commissioned into the 11th Battalion , Royal Fusiliers . He was badly wounded at the Battle of the Somme . While recuperating in a service battalion , he was made a temporary captain on 5 November 1916 . He returned to the trenches once more , when he was re - attached to the Royal Fusiliers on 9 March 1918 . He retained the rank of temporary captain dated to 31 October 1917 with seniority from 5 November 1916 . Inter - war period . At Oxford he studied with Percy Gardner and John Beazley , with whom he collaborated on the Greek art chapter for the " Cambridge Ancient History " , 2nd ed . ( 1928 ; separately issued , 1930 ) and whom he eventually succeeded to the Lincoln Chair of Classical Art at Oxford , on Beazley ' s retirement in 1956 . In 1925 – 28 he served as director of the British School at Rome , where he assisted in cataloguing the sculptures of the Palazzo dei Conservatori and developed a feel for modern sculpture and architecture , from the young students at the School . On his return to the UK in 1929 , he commissioned Amyas Connell to design ' High and Over ' , a modernist concrete - framed house in Amersham - on - the - Hill , Buckinghamshire , that is listed today for its architectural importance . The home features in John Betjeman ' s Metro - land where it is described as ' scandalizing all of Buckinghamshire ' and being part of the nascent trend that was to become known as modernism . His " Late Archaic and Early Classical Greek Sculpture in Sicily and South Italy " ( 1934 ) was developed from his Hertz lectures at the British Academy . In 1939 , Ashmole was appointed Keeper of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the British Museum following a public incident over abrasive cleaning of the Elgin Marbles ; there he nurtured the budding careers of two generations of Classical scholars . World War II service . In World War II , he served in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and was given the service number 84365 . He was commissioned as a pilot officer ( on probation ) on 21 July 1940 . On 21 July 1941 , his commission was confirmed and he was promoted to the war substantive rank of flying officer . He was made a temporary flight lieutenant on 1 September 1942 . By January 1944 , he was an acting squadron leader . In the next month , he was promoted to flight lieutenant ( war substantive ) dated 31 August 1943 and to squadron leader ( war substantive ) dated 5 January 1944 . On 10 February 1954 , he relinquished his commission , retainiing the rank of wing commander . Post World War II . He resigned his University of London chair in 1948 to concentrate on the post - war reinstallation of the British Museum . He retired from Oxford in 1961 to accept a chair in Greek Art and Archaeology at the University of Aberdeen , 1961 – 63 ; to be visiting professor at Yale University , 1964 , and to give the Taft Lectures , Cincinnati ) , published as " The Classical Ideal in Greek Sculpture " ( University of Cincinnati , 1964 ) ; to give the Wrightsman Lectures in New York ( 1967 , published as " Architect and Sculptor in Classical Greece " , 1972 ) . He advised the oil billionaire J . Paul Getty on his acquisitions of classical art . Personal life . In 1920 , Ashmole married Dorothy Irene de Peyer . Together they had two daughters and a son . Honours and decorations . Ashmole was awarded the Military Cross ( MC ) on 17 April 1917 . His citation read : On 29 December 1942 , it was announced that he had been awarded the Greek Distinguished Flying Cross " in recognition of valuable services rendered in connection with the war " . On 14 January 1944 , it was announced that he had been Mentioned in Despatches . He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire ( CBE ) in the 1957 New Year Honours .