The Inventive Life of George H. McFadden: Archaeologist, Poet, Scholar, Spy

In 1953, just two days short of his forty-sixth birthday, Philadelphia’s native son George H. McFadden died suddenly in a sailing mishap off the coast of Cyprus. Fascinated by the ancient world, McFadden funded excavations at Kourion, a Greco-Roman site in Cyprus, joining the dig himself as a self-trained archaeologist. He joined the ranks of the just-forming OSS to work alongside British spy networks, volunteering his yacht for government service. Even among the colorful personalities of that world, McFadden kept his sexual orientation private. He spent vacations working on his own translation of the Iliad, which had first inspired his love of the ancient world. A mysterious sailing accident in Cyprus brought McFadden’s life to an untimely end at age 45, with his exploits as a spy unknown.

Richard Carreño is a longtime art critic in England and the United States. For many years, he was a journalist and university lecturer in London. He is also the author of Clotheshorse: A History and Guide to Riding Apparel, Lord of Hosts: The Life of Sir Henry ＂Chips＂ Channon, Museum Mile: Philadelphia’s Parkway Museums, and John H. McFadden and His Age: Cotton and Culture in Philadelphia. He lives in Philadelphia.