William Stukeley
William Stukeley was born on November 7, 1687. See ranking, bio blurb, and everyone else born that day.
About William Stukeley
William Stukeley (7 November 1687 – 3 March 1765) was an English antiquarian, archaeologist, physician, Anglican clergyman, and freemason. He was a significant influence on the later development of archaeology and pioneered the scholarly investigation of the prehistoric stone circles of Stonehenge and Avebury in Wiltshire. He published over twenty books on archaeology and other subjects during his lifetime. In 1718, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and became the first secretary of the Society of Antiquaries of London. In 1721, he became a freemason and, in 1722, co-founded the Society of Roman Knights, an organisation devoted to the study of Roman Britain. In 1729 he was ordained in the Church of England and appointed vicar of All Saints' Church in Stamford, Lincolnshire. He was a friend of the Archbishop of Canterbury William Wake, who encouraged him to challenge the growth of deism and freethought in Britain. Stukeley has been the subject of multiple biographies and academic studies by scholars including Stuart Piggott, David Boyd Haycock, and Ronald Hutton.