Malcolm Todd was born in Durham, England, on 27 November 1939, the son of Wilfrid Todd and Rose Evelyn Johnson.[1][2] Durham was at the time a characteristic mining and farming community, and his father was a miner.[3]
During his studies, Todd became strongly interested in the archaeology of the Rhine provinces of the Roman Empire, and from 1963 to 1965 he worked as a research assistant at Rheinisches Landesmuseum Bonn under Harald von Petrikovits.[3][4] Todd married Molly Tanner on 2 September 1964, with whom he had a daughter and a son.[2]
In 1979, Todd was appointed professor of archaeology at the University of Exeter. He was the first archaeologist appointed a professor at Exeter since the teaching of archaeology had been established there some years earlier under Aileen Fox.[3] While at Exeter, Todd specialized in the archaeology of the late Roman Empire and the Migration Period, urbanism in early Europe, and relations between the Roman Empire and "barbarians".[6] It was while at Exeter that he carried out his most notable archaeological fieldwork. Todd uncovered a previously unrecognised Roman occupation of the Iron Age hillfort in Hembury.[3] At Bury Barton he identified two Roman sites, including a fort. Todd also researched Roman mining of lead in the Mendips. He found evidence of Roman galena ore extraction at Charterhouse-on-Mendip.[3]
In 1996, Todd returned to his hometown to become principal of Trevelyan College, Durham. He simultaneously held a part-time post tasked with extending the Department of Archaeology. During this time Todd was also an archaeological consultant to Durham Cathedral.[3] Under his leadership, significant changes were made to the management structure of Trevelyan, new fellowships, scholarships and awards were introduced, and its buildings were renovated.[7]
Last years
Though well liked by many of his students, Todd had little patience with administrative work, and had an ambivalent view on the digitization of academia. As a result, he took an early retirement from Trevelyan in 2000, which enabled him to focus entirely on writing and research.[3][7]
After his retirement Todd returned to Exeter, where he continued to own a house.[3] During this time he edited and published Companion to Roman Britain (2004), which has been referred to by The Times as an essential work. He also published the results of his excavations at Charterhouse-on-Mendip.[3]