Walston, Sir Charles

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WALSTON, SIR CHARLES

WALSTON, SIR CHARLES (1856–1927), British archaeologist and writer. Born Charles Waldstein in New York and educated at Columbia University and in Germany, Walston (as he was known from 1918) came to England in 1880 and taught classical archaeology at Cambridge University from 1883 to 1907. He was director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (1883–89), and as director of American School of Archaeology in Athens (1889–93) led the excavations at Plataea, Eretria, and the Hera sanctuary at Argos. His interests included contemporary art history, art education, psychology, and ethics, and among his varied writings was The Jewish Question and the Mission of the Jews (1899). He was knighted in 1912. His son, baron henry walston (1912–1991), a farmer and agricultural researcher, was given a life peerage in 1961 and, in 1964–67, served as a junior minister in Harold Wilson's Labour government. From 1968 until 1981 he served as chairman of the Institute of Race Relations.

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