Mark Reginald Hull

Mark Reginald ‘Rex’ Hull (1897 – 14 November 1976) was a British archaeologist and museum curator.

He is most notable for his excavation work at Colchester and his corpus of Romano-British brooches.

Early life Hull was born in Northumberland, the son of 'a vigorously learned incumbent of Belford'. During the First World War he served as an officer in the Northumberland Fusiliers. He subsequently studied at Durham University under F. G. Simpson, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1922. He collaborated with Simpson at the 1925 excavation of the Roman fort of Great Chesters (Aesica) on Hadrian’s Wall. This included the Iron Age and Roman site at Sheepen which was excavated between 1930 and 1939.

During the Second World War Hull served in the Observer Corps. After the war he continued directing rescue excavations as Colchester was redeveloped. When St Nicholas Colchester was declared redundant and demolished, he conducted a rescue excavation on the site in difficult circumstances.

Hull published three research reports for the Society of Antiquaries on excavations at Colchester. Camulodunum (1947), in collaboration with Christopher Hawkes; Roman Colchester (1958); and The Roman potters' kilns of Colchester (1963).

Retirement After his retirement in 1962 Hull worked on his corpus of Romano-British brooches for which he toured the museums of Britain, drawing almost 10,000 brooches.

Select publications