Eric Lawes obituary

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/23/eric-lawes

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My friend Eric Lawes, and the tale of his search for a lost hammer, captured the national headlines for a time when he discovered treasure in East Anglia in 1992.

Eric’s quiet life on the Suffolk-Norfolk border took on another dimension when his metal detector revealed what became known as the Hoxne hoard. He had actually been helping to look for an old lump hammer that had been dropped in a field near the village of Hoxne (pronounced Hoxon), where he had lived for much of his early life. But he found much more than he had bargained for. A wise and persistent metal-detectorist, Eric, who has died aged 92, knew exactly how to deal with his amazing trove, which was recovered intact and is now available for all to see in the British Museum.

The Hoxne hoard was a priceless Roman “treasure chest” of 14,780 gold and silver coins, plus 200 exquisite items of jewellery, ornaments and tableware, all part of the accumulated wealth of the very affluent family of Aurelius Ursicinus. Eric was rewarded with £1.75m for his find, and although there was no legal requirement to do so at the time, he shared the cash 50-50 with Peter Whatling, the tenant farmer on whose land he had been searching.

Eric enjoyed the brief fame and fortune that accompanied his huge slice of luck – and which brought him several unaccustomed trips to London as well as the chance to meet Prince Charles. But he was a quiet countryman at heart, and handled it all with equanimity.

Eric was born in Hoxne, one of three children of Florence (nee Gilman) and Joseph, a gamekeeper. Brought up in poverty, he was not well served by his prewar rural education, and like many village people of his era was largely self-taught. He left school at 14 to work on a farm, then become a delivery boy for the local Stradbroke bakery, but walked away from the job in indignation when a manager complained that his takings were allegedly one halfpenny short. He was working as a gardener when he was called up with the Royal Marines in 1942, and after demobilisation he spent a short spell in farm labouring before working for 30 years with Eastern Electricity Board. When he retired his work colleagues gave him a metal detector as a leaving present, and his interest in treasure hunting mushroomed from there.

Fortunately some of Eric’s fascinating memories were captured by the Hoxne Heritage Group, which recorded him talking about his way of life and in the process revealed something of his wonderful character. I had the good fortune to see Eric just before the recent general election when, as a Green party candidate for the district council, I went to canvass him at the bungalow in Denham, a few miles from Hoxne, which he had built with the money from his treasure trove. I found him in good spirits and in the presence of his great friend and neighbour Mike Greatbatch, who latterly looked after him and helped him to continue his passion for metal-detecting to the end.

In 1959, Eric married Gepha Bridges, a cook. She predeceased him, and he is survived by their two sons, Peter and Andrew.