[3] His parents had married in 1912, and his father, Albert Merrifield, was a railway clerk, whereas his mother, Margaret, had "excellent qualifications and was experienced as a primary school teacher".

[3] About a year after his birth the family moved to Southend-on-Sea, Essex, where his father died aged 36 on 6 May 1916: Merrifield was then three months short of his third birthday.

[5][Fn 2] Merrifield's education began at Pelham Street Council School in Brighton, where "a report issued on 29 September 1922, when he was nine years old, [used] the phrase 'top boy' twice in connection with his scholarly progress.

[2] In 1940, during the Second World War, Merrifield was conscripted into the Royal Air Force, and in 1943 was transferred to its intelligence division, specialising in the interpretation of aerial photographs.

[8] During these post-war years the city's archaeological community was largely preoccupied with salvaging Roman and medieval structures damaged in the Blitz, and by subsequent urban redevelopment.

Upon arrival Merrifield found that construction was delayed, but, "by an ingenious co-ordination of processes",[12] he had the museum ready for its official opening by the Duchess of Kent.

[11][Fn 5] Concurring with Merrifield's assessment about this neglect, the later archaeologist Roberta Gilchrist described the book as a "rare contribution" to the discipline.

[20] The historian of religion Hilda Ellis Davidson praised the "cautious and balanced arguments" of Merrifield's work, opining that it should be read by every archaeologist as a corrective to what she thought was their widespread ignorance of folklore.

[22] Following a short illness, Merrifield died of cardiac arrest in King's College Hospital, London, on 9 January 1995,[23] leaving behind his wife, children, and grandchildren.

In an introductory paper a guest editor, M. Chris Manning, described The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic as "seminal", and wrote that "[m]any of the participants' ... research [had] been informed by Merrifield's work".

"[1] In Merrifield's obituary in British Archaeology magazine, Max Hebditch, director of the Museum of London, described him as being both "generous with his knowledge and friendship" and "energetic and active to the end".

[11] Writing in The Independent, Peter Marsden commented on Merrifield's "quiet manner [that] obscured a steely determination"[2] to advance scholarship.