Persona

Edwards, Iorwerth Eiddon Stephen

1909-1996

British Egyptologist. Born, London 1909. Died, London 1996. Educated at Merchant Taylor's school, where he studied Biblical Hebrew, then at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he read Arabic and Hebrew, graduating in 1933. Awarded the William Wright studentship in Arabic in 1932. Appointed Assistant Keeper in the Department of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities at the British Museum, taking up the position in 1934. He studied Egyptian under Glanville during his first few years in the Department. He published Hieroglyphic Texts from Egyptian Stelae, etc., viii in 1939. Elected Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1942, the year he was called up for military service. The first edition of The Pyramids of Egypt was published in 1947 and was reprinted many times. Appointed Keeper of the new department of Egyptian Antiquities in 1955. Made a Fellow of the British Academy in 1962, and awarded the CBE in 1968 for his services to the British Museum. He was instrumental in arranging the Tutankhamun exhibition at the British Museum in 1972. Was involved in the UNESCO rescue of the Philae Temples after his retirement from the Museum in 1974.

• Smith, H. S. in JEA 84 (1998), 181-90.
• Who Was Who in Egyptology (4th ed. 2012), 173-4 fig. (portrait).