author
A. Hingston (Alison Hingston) Quiggin
1874–1971
Best known for her classic study of how money began, this Cambridge anthropologist wrote with the curiosity of a field researcher and the clarity of a guide. Her work opens a window onto the many objects and customs people once used in exchange long before modern coins and banknotes.
1 Audiobook
History of anthropology
by Alfred C. (Alfred Cort) Haddon, A. Hingston (Alison Hingston) Quiggin
About the author
Born in 1874 and active in British academic life in the early twentieth century, Alison Hingston Quiggin studied at Newnham College, Cambridge, from 1899 to 1902 and later became a lecturer in the Department of Geography at the University of Cambridge.
She is best remembered for A Survey of Primitive Money: The Beginnings of Currency, first published in 1949 and reprinted many times. The book explores the many forms of exchange used across different societies before coinage became standard, and it helped make a specialized subject accessible to a wide range of readers.
Quiggin died in 1971. Although only a small amount of biographical detail is easy to confirm online, her reputation has lasted through this influential book, which remains the work most closely associated with her name.