William Martin Leake

William Martin Leake (born Jan. 14, 1777, London—died Jan. 6, 1860, Brighton, East Sussex, Eng.) was a British army officer, topographer, and antiquary whose surveys of ancient Greek sites were valuable for their accurate observation and helped lay the foundation for subsequent, more detailed description and excavation.

Sent to assist the Turks against possible French attack (1804), Leake also carried instructions to study the geography of Greece and to survey the coasts to Albania and the Peloponnese (Morea). At that time he gathered a notable collection of Greek coins and antiquities. After retiring from the army as a colonel in 1815, he devoted himself to scholarship, publishing Travels in the Morea (1830) and Travels in Northern Greece (1835), which, in addition to their archaeological significance, provided a vivid account of the condition of Greece in the last years of Turkish rule. He donated his marble sculptures to the British Museum, London, in 1839; and his coins, bronzes, and gems were purchased by the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, in 1854.