Sir Archibald Laurence Patrick Kirwan KCMG was a British archaeologist and geographer who made major contributions to the study of ancient Egypt, Nubia, East Africa and South Arabia. The Guardian, in his obituary, called him "one of the last survivors of the heroic age of archaeology". As Director and Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society from 1945 until 1975, he helped organize the first ascent of Mount Everest in 1953.