File:AustenHenryLayard.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Austen Henry Layard
Sign in to saveAlso known as Sir Austen Henry Layard, Austen Henry Layard Sir, Austen Henry, Sir Layard
British politician (1817–1894)
OverviewAI-generated
Austen Henry Layard was a male anthropologist, diplomat, archaeologist, and politician born in Paris in 1817. He held citizenship in France and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. A member of the Liberal Party, he was a candidate in the 1852, 1865, and 1868 United Kingdom general elections. His professional work focused on archaeology, and he was recognized with the Royal Gold Medal.
Layard authored numerous works, including *Nineveh and its remains*, *Discoveries in the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon*, and *La questione romana alla Camera dei comuni in Inghilterra*. He wrote in the English language and worked in London. He was the sibling of Edgar Leopold Layard and relative of Nina Frances Layard. Layard died in London in 1894 and was buried in Dorset. He is described in sources such as the *Encyclopædia Britannica* 11th edition and *The Nuttall Encyclopædia*.
Synthesized by Vinony from 28 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, Europeana Sparql. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1817
- Died
- 1894
- Works
- 119
Top works
- La questione romana alla Camera dei comuni in Inghilterra
- Nineveh and its remains
- Hanes poblogaidd am ddarganfyddidau yn Ninefeh
- The Right Hon. A.H. Layard and the Anti-Slavery Society
- Discoveries in the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon
via Open Library + Wikidata
Key facts
- Monarch
- Queen Victoria
- Prime minister
- Lord John Russell
- Preceded by
- The Lord Stanley of Alderley
- Succeeded by
- Lord Stanley
- Born
- 5 March 1817 ( 1817-03-05 ) , Paris, France
- Died
- 5 July 1894 (1894-07-05) (aged 77), London, England
- Party
- Liberal
- Spouse
- Mary Enid Evelyn Guest
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
- Place of birth
- Paris
- Place of death
- London
- Sibling
- Edgar Leopold Layard
- Occupation
- art historian
- Political party
- Liberal Party
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Field of work
- archaeology
- Image
- Austen Henry Layard.jpg
- Work location
- London
Show 13 more facts
- Commons category
- Austen Henry Layard
- date of birth
- 1817-03-05
- date of death
- 1894-07-05
- honorific prefix
- The Right Honourable
- place of burial
- Dorset
- honorific suffix
- Order of the Bath
- writing language
- English language
- candidacy in election
- 1852 United Kingdom general election
- described at URL
- www.nationalgallery.org.uk/about-us/history/collectors-and-benefactors/austen-henry-layard
- relative
- Nina Frances Layard
- name in native language
- Austen Henry Layard
- Commons Creator page
- Austen Henry Layard
via Wikidata · CC0
Works in European collections
6 objects attributed to Austen Henry Layard, held across European museums, libraries & archives · via Europeana
~13 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Sir Austen Henry Layard (/lɛərd/; 5 March 1817 – 5 July 1894) was a British Assyriologist, traveller, cuneiformist, art historian, draughtsman, collector, politician and diplomat. He was born to a mostly English family in Paris and largely raised in Italy. He is best known as the excavator of Nimrud and of Nineveh, where he uncovered a large proportion of the Assyrian palace reliefs known, and in 1851 the library of Ashurbanipal. Most of his discoveries are now in the British Museum. He made a large amount of money from his best-selling accounts of his excavations.
He had a political career between 1852, when he was elected as a Member of Parliament, and 1869, holding various junior ministerial positions. He was then made ambassador to Madrid, then Constantinople, living much of the time in a palazzo he bought in Venice. During this period he built up a significant collection of paintings, which due to a legal loophole he had as a diplomat, he was able to extricate from Venice and bequeath to the National Gallery (as the Layard Bequest) and other British museums.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Austen Henry Layard” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.