Name Charles Marston | Parents John Marston | |
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Died 1946, Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom | ||
Charles marston birthday 2011
Sir Charles Marston, F.S.A., K.St.J PEF (6 April 1867 – 21 May 1946) was a successful businessman who funded several major archaeological excavations across Palestine between 1929-1938.
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Charles marston pianist
Life
Born in Wolverhampton, Charles was the son of John Marston the founder of Sunbeam. He entered into the family business in 1885 and through its success mananaged to fund his various interests, many archaeological based. From 1942 to his death Charles was President of the Victoria Institute.
Archaeology
Charles was deeply interested in archaeology and became President of the "Shropshire Archaeological Society", financially supporting its excavations across Palestine from 1929. Charles financially supported John Garstang's excavations at Jericho, followed by further excavations during the 1930s, by which time he was a leading financial supporter of the Palestine Exploration Fund. He also authored two popular works on Biblical archaeology, The Bible is True (1934) followed by The Bible is Alive (1937).
Although not a professional archaeologist himself, Marston was a member of various academic societies, including the Society of Antiquaries of London where he self-taught himself archaeology and ancient history. He also participated in some of John Garstang's digs at Jericho, alongside financially supporting the excavations.
Religious views
Neither a fundamentalist nor liberal Christian, Marston saw himself as somewhere in the middle, having stronging faith but more interested in the historical accuracy of the Old Testament, he was an early notable critic of Higher Criticism:
Charles was also a proponent of British Israelism. Speaking at a meeting of lay churchmen at the Caxton Hall, Westminster, on Saturday, 2 February 1929, he declared: