Paul Ashbee (23 June 1918 – 19 August 2009) was a leading British archaeologist, celebrated for his many excavations of barrows, or burial mounds, and for co-directing the Sutton Hoo digs (with Rupert Bruce-Mitford) from 1964 to 1972; he was perhaps less well known as president of the Just William Society, established in 1995 to celebrate the literary oeuvre of Richmal Crompton. He died of cancer on 19 August 2009, aged 91.