Derrick Riley

Derrick Newton Riley DFC FSA (15 August 1915 – 22 August 1993) was a pioneer of aerial archaeology in Britain, an officer in the Royal Air Force and a manager in the steel industry.

Early life and war service Derrick Riley was born in Matlock in Derbyshire, and educated at King's School Ely and Haileybury College. In 1932 he became a management trainee in the steel industry. He was interested in archaeology and did six seasons of fieldwork in Lincolnshire before the outbreak of the second world war. At the outbreak of war, he joined the Royal Air Force and served in Bomber Command. He was promoted to the rank of Squadron Leader in 1944 and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in June 1944 for his part in a mine laying operation.

While flying over the Thames Valley and the Fens he took the opportunity to observe archaeology from the air, and this led to the publication of his first articles on aerial photography. His 1946 paper on The Technique of Air-Archaeology was recognised as founding the methodology of aerial archaeology.

After the war he returned to the steel industry and was a production manager for the British Steel Corporation in Stocksbridge until his early retirement in 1977.

Aerial archaeology After his return to the steel industry, he continued publishing articles on the archaeology of Yorkshire and Derbyshire, but it was not until 1975 that he took his private pilot's licence and started flying again. in 1980 which won the BBC Chronicle award in 1981. He worked in many countries apart from the United Kingdom: Germany, France, Italy, Jordan, Israel and the USA.

Personal life He married Margaret Beckett in 1943 and had two children.

Selected bibliography