Frederic G. Kenyon

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Sir Frederic George Kenyon GBE KCB TD FBA FSA (15 January 1863–23 August 1952) was a British paleographer, biblical and classical scholar. He was the director of the British Museum. He was also the president of the British Academy from 1917 to 1921, and from 1918 to 1952 he was Gentleman Usher of the Purple Rod in the Order of the British Empire.

Kenyon was born in London, the son of John Robert Kenyon, Vinerian Professor of English Law at Oxford. Educated at Oxford, he joined the British Museum in 1889 and rose to be its Director and Head Librarian by 1909. He was knighted for his services in 1912.

In 1891, Kenyon edited the editio princeps of the Aristotelian Constitution of Athens. In 1920, he was appointed president of the British School of Archaeology in Jerusalem. He spent most of his retirement researching and publishing ancient papyri. He died on 23 August 1952.

Kenyon was a noted scholar of ancient languages, and made a life-long study of the Bible, especially the New Testament as an historical text. His book Our Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts (1895) showed how Egyptian papyri and other evidence from archeology can corroborate the narrative of historical events in the Gospel.

Kenyon's eldest daughter is the British archaeologist, Dame Kathleen Kenyon.