Plantagenet Somerset Fry
Plantagenet Somerset Fry, who died on 10th September 1996 at his home in Wattisfield, Suffolk was the the co-founder of the Congress of Independent Archaeologists. Plantagenet - his friends usually called him Peter - was a subscriber to Current Archaeology who rang me up about a subscription and we got on to talking about the problems of archaeology. I bewailed the sad state of the amateurs and said that we ought to 'do something about this' and suggested that we should hold a congress especially for amateur archaeologists. To my surprise Peter immediately took me up and said what a good idea, you go ahead and provide the speakers and I'll provide a Cambridge College for you. Since he was attached to Wolfson College, this proved quite feasible, and thus the first congress was held in September 1985. It was a great success, and two more Congresses followed at two yearly intervals until we decided to put the arrangement on a more formal basis and set up the Council for Independent Archaeology.
Peter was an author who wrote over 30 books, including a guide to Roman Britain,
published by David and Charles. After the first Congress he went and his wife
Fiona set out to write a History of Ireland and thus he rather lost contact
with archaeology. Having set up the congress, he was thus happy to leave the
future congresses to others. He was a lively and entertaining companion and
organised the Congress with great efficiency. I grieve that he is no longer
with us, but take this opportunity to salute his outstanding initiative.
(from CIA Newsletter 22)