William Collings Lukis

Rev. William Collings Lukis MA. FSA (1817 - 1892) was a British antiquarian, archeologist and polymath.

Lukis is best remembered in England for his work on the megaliths of Great Britain and France; with his university friend Sir Henry Dryden he surveyed the megalithic monuments of Brittany. He was ordained in Salisbury in 1845, and after holding several livings in Wiltshire he moved to Wath in Yorkshire, where he carried out a number of excavations. He published a treatise on ancient church plate in 1845 and was a regular contributor to the journals of the British Archaeological Association and other learned societies. His collection of artefacts was bought by the British Museum after his death.

Family life

He was born April 8th, 1817, in the Island of Guernsey. He is the third son of Frederick Corbin Lukis, Colonel of Guernsey Militia. He was married to Lucy Adelaide daughter of Admiral Sir Thomas Fellowes [http://www.museums.gov.gg/download/VIG/VIG03.pdf The Victorians in Guernsey - Activity Book (pdf)]

Works

*"Prehistoric Stone Monuments of the British Isles : Cornwall" With 40 tinted litho plates, accurately drawn to scale by W.C. Lukis and W.C. Borlase. Society of Antiquaries, 1885.
*An Account of Church Bells: With Some Notices of Wiltshire Bells and Bell Founders. Containing a copious List of Founders, a comparative scale of tenor bells, and inscriptions from nearly five hundred parishes in various parts of the Kingdom.
*Guide to the Principal Chambered Barrows and other Prehistoric Monuments in the Islands of the Morbihan. 1875
*Danish Cromlechs and Burial Customs compared.
*A Pocket guide to the principal rude Stone monuments of Brittany (1875)
*Rude Stone Monuments (1875)
*Specimens of Ancient Church Plate (1845)

References