Showing 245 results

Authority record
Arkell, (Revd) Anthony John
1898-1980

British archaeologist; he was born at Hinxhill Rectory, Kent, 29 July 1898, son of Revd John Norris A. and Eleanor Jessy Bunting; he was educated at Bradfield College and The Queen's College Oxford; his education was interrupted by World War I during which he served in the Royal Flying Corps, 1916-8 and was awarded MC, 1918; he continued in the RAF, 1918-9 and in 1920 joined the Sudan Political Service in which he held various political posts culminating in Acting Deputy-Gov. of Darfur, 1932-7; he was appointed first Commissioner for Archaeology and Anthropology in 1939; he returned briefly to Oxford, 1938-9; B. Litt. 1939; he then took up his new Sudanese post which he held until 1949 with a break in 1940-4 when he was Chief Transport Officer; he undertook the organization of the Museums of Antiquities and Ethnography at Khartoum and the creation of the Sudan Antiquities Service; he was editor of Sudan Notes and Records, 1945-8; he was appointed lecturer in Egyptology at University College London, 1948, later reader, 1953-63 and Curator of the Flinders Petrie Collection, 1948-63; he undertook the onerous task of unpacking and cataloguing the collection which had been in store since World War II; he remained Archaeological Adviser to the Sudan Government, 1948-53; he excavated at Khartoum in 1944-5 and in 1949-50 at Shaheinab; FSA and member of its council, 1956-7; ordained in the Anglican church; assistant curate of Great Missenden, 1960-63; vicar of Cuddington with Dinton, 1963-71; his publications include Early Khartoum, 1949; Shaheinab, 1953; A History of the Sudan from the Earliest Times to 1821, 1955; Wanyanga, 1964; and The Prehistory of the .Nile Valley, 1975; he died in Chelmsford, 26 Feb. 1980.

Carter, Howard
Person · 1874-1939

British Egyptologist. Born, London 1874. Died, London 1939. Privately educated. Employed by P. E. Newberry in 1891 working for the Archaeological Survey. Assisted in excavations for the Egypt Exploration Fund 1892-3, was with Petrie at Amarna in 1892, and as a draughtsman to the Deir el-Bahri expedition 1893-9. Appointed Chief Inspector of Antiquities of Upper Egypt 1899-1904. Discovered several royal tombs, including those of Hatshepsut, Tuthmosis IV and Amenophis I. Inspector of Lower Egypt 1905. Employed by Lord Carnarvon from 1909 onwards, to excavate in the Theban necropolis, the Delta and Middle Egypt. His most famous discovery, that of the intact tomb of Tutankhamun, was made in 1922. He spent the next ten years recording the tomb's contents. Most of Carter's records for Tutankhamun's tomb remain unpublished.

Newberry, Essie Winifred
Person · 1878-1953

Essie Winifred Newberry (née Johnston) married Percy Newberry on 12 February 1907. Essie shared Percy's keen interest in textiles, reflected by her involvement with the Embroiderers’ Guild, where she served as Vice President (1922-1945) and Honorary Treasurer (1935-1938). She accompanied Percy on his expeditions and lived with him in Cairo from 1929 to 1932.

Broome, Myrtle Florence
Person · 1888-1978

British artist. Born, London 1888. Died, Bushey 1978. Studied Egyptology under M. Murray and W. M. F. Petrie, at University College, London, 1911-13. Worked for the British School of Archaeology at Qau, 1927, and with A. Calverley at Abydos, 1929-37.

Clère, Jacques Jean
Person · 1906-1989

French Egyptologist. Born, Paris 1906. Died, Paris 1989. Trained as an artist at the École Bernard Palissy and the École des Arts Decoratifs. First started studying Egyptology with Henri Sottas at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, 1924. Student, École du Louvre, 1925. Worked with Bruyère at Deir el-Medîna, and then with Bisson de la Roque at Madâmûd. Studied Egyptian language with Moret, Weill, and Sethe. Qualified in the history of religion, phonetics, Latin, Hebrew, Arabic, and Berber. Director d'Études at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, 1949. Visiting Professor, Brown University, 1951-2 and 1960-1. Wilbour Fellow, Brooklyn Museum, 1967. Published many linguistic articles as well as several monographs.

Crum, Walter Ewing
Person · 1865-1944

British Coptologist. Born, Capelrig, Renfrewshire 1865. Died, Bath 1944. Educated, Eton, 1879, then Balliol College, Oxford, BA 1888. Became interested in Egyptology whilst an undergraduate, and went to study hieroglyphs, ancient Egyptian and Coptic with W. N. Groff in Paris, then with A. Erman in Berlin. Hon. PhD. Berlin. Went on to specialise in Coptic, eventually becoming the most eminent scholar in his field. He is most renowned for his Coptic Dictionary which he started work on in 1892. He visited many museums and libraries compiling all available material. The Dictionary was published in six volumes between 1929-39. In recognition of his contribution to the subject, he was elected Fellow of the British Academy, 1931, awarded D. Litt., Oxford, 1937, Volume 25 (1939) of the Journal of Egyptian Archaeology was dedicated to him, and the Byzantine Institute of Boston published a volume in his honour. He published extensively in his chosen field.

Dakin, Alec Naylor
Person · 1912-2003

British Egyptologist. Born, Mytholmroyd, Yorkshire 1912. Died, Bristol 2003. Educated, Heath School, Halifax, and read Literae Humaniores at Queen's College, Oxford; BA, 1935. He was the first Lady Wallis Budge Fellow at University College, 1936-42. Published several articles, including one with P. C. Smither titled 'The Semnah Despatches', and another on Middle Kingdom stelae in Queen's College, Oxford (now in the Ashmolean Museum). Entered the Foreign Office in May 1940 and worked as a cryptographer at Bletchley Park. After the war left Egyptology and became a schoolmaster but took it up again in the 1970s.

Edwards, Amelia Ann Blanford
Person · 1831-1892

British author and Egyptologist. Born, London 1831. Died, Westbury-on-Trym 1892. Displayed an early talent for writing, drawing, and opera singing. She pursued a career in journalism, wrote several novels, and also edited art and history publications. During this time she fostered a great interest in Egyptology, which led to her studying hieroglyphs. She visited Egypt in 1873-4, after which she wrote her most renowned publication A Thousand Miles Up the Nile (1877). She founded the Egypt Exploration Fund along with R. S. Poole and Sir E. Wilson, its aim being to excavate and preserve monuments. She gave up all her other interests so that she could concentrate on being the EEF's Secretary and to publicize its cause. She wrote numerous articles including excavation reports. In her will she left provision for the establishment of the first chair of Egyptian archaeology in England, which was at University College London, its first holder being Flinders Petrie.

Eisler, Robert
Person · 1882-1949

Austrian cultural historian, influenced by Jung. Born, Vienna 1882. Died, Oxford 1949. He had a wide range of interests and published controversial books and articles on various subjects including Christianity, astronomy, economics and psychology.

Emery, Walter Bryan
Person · 1903-1971

British Egyptologist. Born, Liverpool 1903. Died, Cairo 1971. Educated St. Francis Xavier's College, Liverpool, then the Institute of Archaeology, Liverpool University, 1921-3. Went out to Egypt for the first time as an assistant to the EES excavations at Amârna in 1923-4. Also worked for Mond at Luxor and Armant, 1923-8. Subsequently directed excavations at many sites in Egypt, notably his work at North Saqqâra in 1935-9. Served with the British Army 1939-46, afterwards attached to the British Embassy in Cairo. In 1951 appointed to the Edwards Professorship at University College London, which he held until his retirement in 1970. Worked in the Sudan and at Qasr Ibrîm in the 1950s and 60s.

Grdseloff, Bernhard
Person · 1915-1950

Egyptologist of Georgian nationality. Born, Egypt 1915. Died, Cairo 1950. Studied with K. Sethe in Berlin. Appointed Secretary of the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo. Editorial Secretary of the Société des Études Juives en Égypte.

Person · 1912-1993

American Egyptologist and art historian; he was born in Charlottenburg, Berlin, 13 Oct. 1912, son of Wilhelm Friederich Franz Karl von B., of a Hanoverian noble family, and Marie Julie Auguste Karoline Baroness von and zu Egloffstein; he studied Egyptology at the University of Berlin under Sethe but was unable to finish his dissertation on Egyptian art due to his professor's death; he was appointed as an assistant to Schafer in the Egyptian Department, Berlin Museum, 1932-8 when his post lapsed; because of his opposition to the Nazi government, he fled to France in 1938 and to Switzerland in 1939 where he found temporary employment; he emigrated to the United States in Oct. 1941 where he worked for the Office of War Information and the War Department and later was in army intelligence in Europe until 1946; he was appointed assistant curator in the Department of Ancient Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1 Aug. 1946-54; Director of the American Research Center in Egypt, 1954-6; Fulbright resident fellow in Cairo, 1954-6, 1963-4; he became associate curator in the Dept. of Ancient Art, The Brooklyn Museum, 1956-63; curator in succession to Cooney, 1963-82; he lectured at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University, 1960-78; professor, 1979; Lila Acheson Wallace Professor of Ancient Egyptian Art, 1982-93; Bothmer was a leading specialist in ancient Egyptian sculpture particularly of the Late Period and formed as a research tool the Corpus of Late Egyptian Sculpture, a photographic and bibliographic resource, now in The Brooklyn Museum; he was project director for the New York University's Mendes expedition and the also the Apis House project at Memphis, 1981-6; he organized an exhibition of sculpture of the Late Period Art in The Brooklyn Museum, 1960-1 and produced with E. Riefstahl the authoritative catalogue Egyptian Sculpture of the Late Period, 1960; he was also responsible for two other important exhibitions with significant catalogues Akhenaten and Nefertiti, 1971 and Africa in Antiquity, 1978 which was instrumental in encouraging the study of Nubian and Meroitic Art; a Festschrift in his honour Artibus Aegypti, edited by H. De Meulenaere and L. Limme, was published in 1983; he wrote a large number of articles on Egyptian art and sculpture notably a series Membra Dispersa on fragments of sculpture in different locations; he wrote Brief Guide to the Department of Ancient Art, The Brookes Museum, with J. Keith, 1970 and edited the Catalogue of the Luxor Museum of Ancient Egyptian Art, 1979, and posthumously a travel diary Egypt 1950: My First Visit, ed. Emma Swan Hall, 2003; and Egyptian Art: selected writings of B. V. Bothmer, 2004, ed. by M. E. Cody; his catalogue of Late Period sculpture in the Cairo Museum remained unfinished at his death; his archives were acquired by the Egyptological Archives of the University degli Studi di Milano in 2008; he died in New York, 24 Nov. 1993.

Hawker, Edward James
Person · 1817-1892

Born, Ripley, Surrey 1817. Died, 1892. Eldest son of Rear-Admiral Edward Hawker (1782-1860), of Ashford Lodge, near Petersfield, Hampshire. Adm. Pens. (aged 18) at Trinity College, Cambridge, 15th March 1836. BA, 1840. MA, 1845. Called to the Bar, 21st Nov. 1845. Married Marguerita, daughter of John Rennie. Travelled to Egypt and Nubia for health, 1850-2. Left graffiti with R. H. Borrowes at Semna and Kumma temples in January 1851.

Person · 1888-1951

Surgeon and pharmacologist. Born, West Deeping, Lincs 1888. Died, London 1951. Educated at Winchester and New College Oxford; BA, 1911, MA, 1914. Then trained at University College Hospital. He served in the R.A.M.C. and the R.N.V.R. during the 1914-18 war, before returning to Oxford to complete his studies in pharmacology. In 1922 Heathcote was appointed as the first holder of the chair of pharmacology at the University of Cairo, a post he held until 1933. During his time in Egypt he travelled extensively, forming a notable collection of photographs of Egyptian antiquities. On his return to Britain he took up a post at the Welsh National School of Medicine at Cardiff, eventually becoming Professor of Pharmacology, a post he held until his death.

Kahle, Paul Eric
Person · 1923-1955

British Coptologist. Born, Bonn 1923. Died, Charlbury, Oxon 1955. Lady Wallis Budge Fellow, University College, at the time of his death. MA. D.Phil. Published material relating to the monastery of Deir el-Balaizah.

Lucas, Alfred
Person · 1867-1945

British chemist. Born, Chorlton-upon-Medlock 1867. Died, Luxor 1945. Educated, School of Mines, London, and the Royal College of Science. Worked for the British Government as an assistant chemist, until ill health prompted a move to Egypt. There he was engaged as an assistant chemist to the Government Salt Department, 1898. He initially managed the Survey Department and Assay Office laboratories, he was then appointed Chemist for the Antiquities Service, 1923-32. Honorary Consulting Chemist, 1932-45. He was able to put his expertise in cleaning, consolidating, and conserving antiquities to good use when he was lent by the Antiquities Service to H. Carter during the excavation of the tomb of Tutankhamun. He also worked at Tanis with P. M. Montet. Published many books about his work in this field.

Milne, Joseph Grafton
Person · 1867-1951

British classical archaeologist, numismatist, and historian. Born, Bowden 1867. Died, Oxford 1951. Educated at Manchester Grammar School. Won a scholarship at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. MA. D.Litt. Excavated at Megalopolis, Greece, 1890-1. Master, Mill Hill School until 1893. Board of Education, 1893-1926. Deputy Keeper of Coins, Ashmolean Museum, 1931-51. Librarian, Corpus Christi College, Oxford, 1933-46. Worked with W. M. F. Petrie at Thebes, 1895-6, and also visited B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt's excavations at Karanis. Copied Greek inscriptions, Cairo, 1899. Worked at Deir el-Bahri with C. T. Currelly, 1905-6. Treasurer, Egypt Exploration Society, 1912-19. Published extensively on the history and inscriptions of Ptolemaic and Roman Period Egypt.

Murray, Margaret Alice
Person · 1863-1963

British Egyptologist. Born, Calcutta 1863. Died, Welwyn 1963. Entered University College London, 1894. First professional female Egyptologist. Assisted Petrie in his excavations in 1902. She also excavated at many other sites, including Malta and Petra. President of the Folk-Lore Society, 1953-5. Published widely in the fields of Egyptology and folklore.

O'Connor, David B.
Person · Born 1938

Australian Egyptologist. B.A. Sydney, 1958. Postgraduate Diploma, London, 1962 Ph.D. Cambridge, 1969. William Fox Albright Lecturer, 1993; Guggenheim Fellowship,1982-1983. Currently Lila Acheson Wallace Professor of Ancient Egyptian Art, Institute of Fine Arts, New York. Specialist on Ancient Egyptian art history and archaeology. Published books on Ancient Egyptian kingship and Nubia.

Payne, Joan Crowfoot
Person · 1912-2002

British archaeologist and museum assistant. Born, Giza 1912. Died, England 2002. Began medical training at the London School of Medicine for Women, 1929. Uncompleted Diploma Course in Archaeology, Cambridge University, 1932-3. Excavated with her father John W. Crowfoot and other leading archaeologists, in England and Palestine. Appointed Cataloguer in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, cataloguing the whole of the Egyptian and Nubian collections, she also had a significant role in the arrangement and display of the Museums lithic collections in the Egyptian and Near Eastern galleries, 1957-79. She published many important publications on lithics as well as the Catalogue of the Predynastic Egyptian Collection in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford, 1993; reprinted with addenda, 2000).

Person · 1871-1956

British Egyptologist. Born, Dublin 1871. Died, London 1956. Through her interest in Egyptology she met, then married, Flinders Petrie in 1896. Worked with her husband on his excavations, helping to raise the money to fund their work. She also assisted Margaret Murray with her excavations of the Osireion at Abydos, 1902-3.

Person · 1897-1971

German Egyptologist. Born, Berlin 1897. Died, Innsbruck 1971. Studied Egyptology under H. Ranke at Heidelberg, 1924, then with H. Junker and K. Sethe. Dr. Phil., 1926. Employed initially as an assistant in the Berlin Museum, and also worked at the German Archaeological Institute, Cairo. During his time in Egypt he translated texts collected by the German E. Delta expedition in 1929. Also worked for Chicago House, Luxor, as an epigraphist. Lecturer, Göttingen University, 1943. Professor of Egyptology, Heidelberg University, 1952. Professor of Egyptology, Göttingen University, 1956. Professor (emeritus), Göttingen University, 1965-71. Published extensively, especially religious texts.

Person · 1916-2010

British New Testament and Gnostics scholar. Born, Gourock 1916. Died, Dundee 2010. Educated, Greenock Academy and Royal High School, Edinburgh. Awarded MA in Classics at Edinburgh University, followed by a degree in divinity with distinction in New Testament. Specialized in the origins of Gnosticism at Cambridge, PhD, 1945. Appointed minister at Strathaven, Lanarkshire, 1946. Lecturer in New Testament Language and Literature, University of St Andrews, 1954. Awarded personal chair, and then the University Chair of Biblical Criticism, 1978. President then secretary of the Society for New Testament Studies. Edited New Testament Studies.

Bartlett, William Henry
Person · 1809-1854

British topographical artist; born Kentish town, London, 26 March 1809, son of William B. and his wife Anne; he was articled to John Britton the architect and antiquary, 1823, and employed to illustrate his works; he later travelled to Europe, America, and the Near East, producing his most famous work, The Beauties of the Bosphorus, with Julia Pardoe, 1839, after a visit to Turkey; in 1845 he went to Egypt of which he wrote a descriptive work, The Nile Boat, 1850, which ran to five editions. He died on a ship between Malta and Marseilles and was buried at sea, 13 Sept. 1854.

Bonomi, Joseph
Person · 1796-1878

British sculptor, draughtsman, and traveller of Italian origin; he was born in London, 9 Oct. 1796, son of Joseph Bonomi the elder (1739-1808), architect, and Rosa Florini; he studied at the RA schools under Nollekens and won the silver medal for drawing in the antique style; he continued his studies in Rome, 1823; he went from there to Egypt to assist Robert Hay in 1824, remaining there for no less than 9 years although estranged from Hay 1826-32; he also worked with Burton, Lane, Wilkinson, and Rosellini; in 1828 he assisted Burton with his Excerpta Hieroglyphica, and in 1829 ascended the Nile as far as Dongola, and in 1831 he accompanied Linant Bey in his expedition to the Gold Mines; he rejoined Hay at Qurna in Aug. 1832; he went with Arundale and Catherwood in a journey through Sinai, Palestine, and Syria, 1833-4; he was much used by Wilkinson and Birch for the production of their works because of his knowledge and excellence as a draughtsman; he returned to Rome to study the obelisks, 1838, and worked at the British Museum, 1839; at this time he prepared the illustrations for Wilkinson's Manners and Customs; he supervised the making of Hay's plaster casts of Egyptian sculpture and their entry into the British Museum; he was partly responsible for the design and decoration of the Egyptian-style Marshall's Mill at Holbeck, Leeds in 1842; he next went to Egypt with Lepsius's expedition, 1842-4; he returned to England and married Jessie daughterof the painter John Martin, 1845; Bonomi set up the Egyptian court at the Crystal Palace, 1853, and made the first hieroglyphic font in England for Birch's Dictionary, pub. 1867; he catalogued and illustrated many Egyptian collections, and lithographed the sarcophagus of Sety I and other monuments; he was appointed Curator of Sir John Soane's Museum, 1861, and was still in office at his death; he was instrumental in the sale of much of Hay's collection to the British Museum in 1868 and Hay's MSS to the Museum (now in the British Library) in 1875. His principal publications were, Gallery of antiquities selected from the British Museum, by F. Arundale and J. Bonomi, with descriptions by S. Birch, 1842-1843; Catalogue of the Egyptian antiquities in the Museum of Hartwell House, 1858; Egypt, Nubia and Ethiopia ..., 1862. He died in Wimbledon, 3 March 1878 and is buried in Brompton cemetery beneath a slate Anubis.

Caton-Thompson, Gertrude
Person · 1888-1985

British archaeologist; she was born in London, Feb. 1888, daughter of William Caton-Thompson, a solicitor, and Ethel Gertrude Page; she was educated in private schools in Eastbourne and Paris and visited Egypt in 1911 with her mother; she worked as a civil servant during World War I and then from 1921-6 was a student of Petrie at University College London; she took part in Petrie's excavations at Abydos and Oxyrhynchus 1921-2; her interest was in the prehistoric period in which she became a specialist; she excavated in Malta in 1921 and 1924; she joined Petrie and Brunton at Qau 1923-5 where she discovered the predynastic village at Hemmamiya; she inaugurated the first archaeological and geological survey of the Northern Fayum where she uncovered two neolithic cultures 1924-8 under the auspices of the British School of Archaeology and then the Royal Anthropological Institute; in 1929 she carried out excavations in Rhodesia at Zimbabwe and other sites; she undertook further excavations at Kharga Oasis 1930-2 and in southern Arabia in 1937-8; she served on the council of the Royal Anthropological Institute, the Royal Geographical Society, and the British Institute of History and Archaeology in East Africa; she was awarded the Cuthbert Peek award of the Royal Geographical Society, 1932; Rivers medallist of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 1934; Huxley medallist, 1946; Burton Medal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1954; Fellow of Newnham College, Cambridge, Hon. Fellow, 1981; FBA, 1944; Hon. Litt. D. Cambridge, 1954; she served as Governor of Bedford College for Women and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; her chief Egyptological publications were The Badarian Civilisation, with G. Brunton, 1928; The Desert Fayum, 1934, Kharga Oasis in Prehistory, 1952; and her reminiscenses Mixed Memoirs, 1983; she died at Court Farm, Broadway, Worcestershire, 18 April 1985.

Person · 1886-1957

British archaeologist; born Bombay, 28 Oct. 1886, son of Charles Edward Gordon C., a High Court Judge, and Alice Luscombe; he was educated at Marlborough and Keble College, Oxford; becoming interested in archaeology he first wrote a paper on Early Bronze Age distributions and then joined the Wellcome Sudan excavations as an assistant, 1913-14; after war service he undertook field work in Britain and was appointed Archaeology Officer to the Ordnance Survey in 1920; he founded the archaeological journal Antiquity; he published Wessex from the Air, 1928, and Archaeology in the Field, 1953, two books which became standard works and which showed the use of new techniques; he visited Russia, Iraq, and N. Africa and also the Sudan again in 1950-1, producing the History of the Fung Kingdom of Sennar, he was awarded the Victoria Medal of the RGS and Hon. DCL by the Universities of Cambridge and Southampton; CBE; FBA; he also wrote Abu Geili (with F. Addison), 1951; Castles and churches in the Middle .Nile Region, 1961; some of his papers are in the Griffith Institute; he died in Southampton, 28 Nov. 1957.

Davies, Norman de Garis
Person · 1865-1941

British Egyptologist; he was born Broughton, Lancashire 14 Sept. 1865, son of Revd James Dickerson Davies and Emma Mary de Garis; he entered Glasgow University, 1884, with a scholarship from Dr. Williams' Library, London; MA, 1889; BD, 1891; later postgraduate at Marburg Univ.; Hon. member of German Arch. Inst., 1928; Hon. MA, Oxon; he was Congregational Minister at Ashton-under-Lyne where he became acquainted with Miss Kate Bradbury (afterwards Mrs. F. Ll. Griffith) who interested him in Egyptology, which he began to study; he next went to Australia as a Unitarian Minister in Melbourne until 1898, when he joined Petrie at Dendera; during the following years he copied an enormous number of tombs for the Arch. Survey of the EEF: Sheikh Said, 1901, Der el-Gebrawi, 1902, and Amarna, 1903-8; these, together with five more tombs at Thebes were published in 10 vols. of the Arch. Survey memoirs, both text and plates being executed by Davies; the merit of this work was recognized by the award of the Leibniz medal of the Prussian Acad.; he also accompanied Breasted in his expedition to Nubia, and assisted Reisner at the pyramids; he married in 1907, Miss A. M. Cummings, herself an accomplished artist and a trained copyist; he then settled at Thebes and worked for many seasons copying tombs for the MMA, which were published in a series of sumptuous volumes; in addition to these larger works he made many contributions to JEA and other journals. He also published, The Mastaba of Ptahhetep and Akhethetep at Saqqarah, 2 vols. 1900-1; The Rock Tombs of Sheikh Said, 1901; The Rock Tombs of Deir el Gebrawi, 2 vols. 1902; The Rock Tombs of El Amarna, 6 vols. 1903-8; The Temple of Hibis in El Khargeh Oasis, pt. 3, ed. Ludlow Bull and Lindsley F. Hall, 1953; A Corpus of Inscribed Egyptian Funerary Cones, ed. M. F. Laming Macadam, pt. I, 1957. He died at The Copse, Hinksey Hill, Berkshire, 5 Nov. 1941.

Person

British artist and copyist; born Salonika, 6 Jan. 1881, daughter of Cecil J. Cummings and Sarah Tannoch; she was trained at the Slade School of Art and the Royal College of Art under Walter Crane; her interest in Egypt was aroused when she visited Alexandria in 1906, and she married Norman de G. Davies the following year, with whom she was to record a great many Theban tombs; an excellent artist she went to great pains to reproduce colours as exactly as possible, and achieved remarkable results in the days before colour photography; she used egg tempera when making copies of scenes instead of merely watercolours; in all she worked at Thebes for over thirty years, 1908-39; three of the five vols. of The Theban Tombs Series were entirely her work, the others had drawings by her husband as well, while Gardiner edited the series; Nina Davies also copied at Amarna, 1925-6, and at Beni Hasan, 1931-2; in 1923 Gardiner exhibited a collection of her copies at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and this was followed by the publication of two folio vols. of Ancient Egyptian Paintings, 1936; in 1954 a miniature Penguin edition of some of these was illustrated with small reproductions and had a text by the artist; in 1958 she published a series of paintings from originals in the British Museum and the Bankes Collection; she, with her husband, also helped Gardiner in selecting and making drawings of good representative hieroglyphs of the XVIIIth Dynasty to use in his hieroglyphic font, and published Picture Writing in Ancient Egypt, 1958; she contributed a number of articles to the JEA and left two of her copies to the Egyptian Department of the British Museum and other copies together with a shabti figure to the Ashmolean Museum; her Egyptological books were bequeathed to the Griffith Institute and to the Pitt-Rivers Museum, Oxford; she died in Hinksey Hill, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), 21 April 1965.