John Pearson Gillam

John Pearson Gillam FSA FSA Scot (10 July 1917 – 31 December 1986) was a British archaeologist who specialised in the study of Roman coarse pottery.

John Pearson Gillam
Born	10 July 1917
Died	31 December 1986
Occupation	Archaeologist
Academic background
Alma mater	Durham University
Academic work
Discipline	Archaeology
Sub-discipline	Roman archaeology
Institutions	Newcastle University

Early life

John Pearson Gillam was born in Chesterfield and educated at Chesterfield Grammar School.^[1] He entered Durham University, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in History in 1938, and a postgraduate diploma in Theology in 1939.^[2] He was an undergraduate at St Chad's College.^[2]

Second World War

Gillam joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1940 and was later commissioned into the 14th Punjab Regiment in 1942. He served in India, North Africa and Europe and ended his war service with the rank of Major.^[1]

Career

Gillam returned to Durham University in 1946 to take up a research studentship at Hatfield College under Eric Birley.^[1] He was appointed as a lecturer in Roman-British archaeology at Durham in 1948.^[1] In 1956 he became Reader in Roman-British history and archaeology at King's College in Newcastle, which would split from Durham to become Newcastle University in 1963. He held the position of Reader until his retirement in 1982.^[1]

In 1947 John Gillam took part in the first post-War excavation at Corbridge, along with Sir lan Richmond and Eric Birley.^[1] Gillam continued to co-direct the Corbridge training excavations until the last season in 1973. He also directed the training excavation at Great Casterton.^[1]

Roman pottery

Gillam specialised in the study of coarse Roman pottery.^[2] His Types of Roman Coarse Pottery Vessels in Northern Britain became the standard work on the subject.^[3] It was first published in Archaeologia Aeliana in 1957^[1] and then was updated and published in book form in three editions. He was working on a fourth edition at the time of his death.^[2]

Honours and awards

He became Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1958.^[1] He was also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.^[2]

A festschrift by colleagues was published in 1979 as “Roman pottery studies in Britain and beyond: papers presented to John Gillam”.^[4]

The Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies dedicated volume 16 of Britannia to him in 1985. This volume included a bibliography of his publications.^[1]

The Study Group for Roman Pottery established the annual John Gillam Prize in 2004 to “to honour a key founder of our Group for his tremendous contribution to the subject”.^[5]

Personal life

Gillam married Marie Watson, a fellow student from Durham, in 1942.^[1] A polyglot, he could speak and read Hindi, Urdu, Italian and German.^[2]