Obituary

337 OBITUARY nesta caiger Nesta Caiger passed away in March 2017 aged 88. She was born in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1928 but four years later the family moved back to the UK, firstly settling in Brixton before moving to Addiscombe, Surrey. Her father was an enthusiastic golfer and encouraged her to take up the game. At six years old she was hailed as England’s youngest golfer and was interviewed by British Movietime News and several journals. At the same time she was also having dance lessons and soon showed she was much more interested in dancing. During the Second World War she lied about her age and became a member of the Canadian Legion Entertainment Service giving shows to entertain the troops. She became a professional dancer and also helped in her father’s photographic business. Nesta had been associated with archaeology in Kent from the early 1950s when she assisted her future husband, John Caiger, to survey and record many deneholes and chalk mines in the county. Before then she had been a member of the Croydon Natural History and Scientific Society and helped on a number of excavations with them, her first being at Banstead in 1953. John and Nesta were married in 1956 and they became well known figures in local history and archaeology. Living in Barnehurst they helped to form the Bexley Antiquarian Society (now the Bexley Historical Society) and conducted many excavations and earthwork surveys in the north-west Kent area. Nesta was an expert photographer and made a photographic record of their work. She also did most of the documentary research prior to publication of the sites in Archaeologia Cantiana. After John’s death in 1975 (see obituary in Archaeologia Cantiana, xci, 1975, 225) Nesta continued her interest in archaeology and became more involved with the Society (which she had joined in 1970). She served on the KAS council for 17 years from 1983 and was also an active member of the Membership and Publicity Committee. She revived the society’s newsletter, producing it from 1989 to 1996, and had the worthy reputation of always publishing on time. After typing up twenty-two editions of this important communication for the membership Nesta was made an honorary member of the Society when she stood down as its editor. Outside the KAS Nesta was involved with many other societies. She was on the management committee of the Bexley Archaeological Society when it was formed in 1979 but reluctantly had to step down soon after in order to spend more time on the London Archaeologist magazine where she was the secretary for over 20 years. She maintained her interest in underground sites and was a member of the national society Subterranea Britannica and attended their conferences in Cambridge and Imperial College, London. When the Kent Underground Research Group (KURG) formed in 1981 Nesta was enthusiastically involved from the beginning and became the group’s first chairman, a role she held for 18 years. 338 Nesta had a great interest in Egyptology and worked part time at the Petrie Museum in London. She was a member of the Egypt Exploration Society and visited the country over 40 times. Her particular interest was depictions of ancient dance in the tomb and temple decorations. She was instrumental in discovering the ‘Valley of the Colours’ with Alastair Fox and experimented with the pigments found there and was able to match the colours with those on the tomb walls. Another interest was the Amarna period in Egypt and in 1996 she self-published a book entitled Amarna Royals or who was Nefertiti? which was well received. More recently she did not enjoy good health but still maintained a great interest in the KAS and KURG and would chat on the phone about the latest underground surveys and enjoyed hearing about what was being discussed on the KAS Council and committees. rod legear OBITUARY