Alan Wace (1879-1957), a Cambridge graduate, had served as Director of the British School at Athens initially in 1914 although during the war for the British Legation he had developed an effective system of passport control to safeguard access to Egypt. Reappointed in 1919, Wace began significant excavations at Mycenae for three seasons in 1921 which were soon published. Nonetheless, in a still controversial decision, the Managing Committee in London decided in 1922 to terminate his tenure as Director at the age of forty-two. Gilbert wrote that Wace was “very much upset about it. It is tragic turning out a man on to the world at his age and with his position.”
Stanley Casson, an Oxford graduate and Gilbert’s source of information, was the Assistant Director at the British School and did not have a good working relationship with Wace. Wace eventually found employment in 1924 as Keeper of Textiles in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.