Identity area
Reference code
Prudhoe MSS
Title
Date(s)
- 1827-1829 (Creation)
Level of description
Collection
Extent and medium
1 folder and 1 box
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
British collector; he was born in Syon House, 15 Dec. 1792, second son of Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke, by his second marriage to Frances Julia Burrell; he entered the Navy, 1805; retired Captain, 1815; Rear-Admiral, 1850; Vice-Ad., 1857; Admiral, 1862; he was created Baron Prudhoe, 1816; from 1826 he travelled in the East for some years with Major Orlando Felix and met Champollion in Cairo in Sept. 1828 and again in Nubia in Jan. 1829; he reached Sennnar in 1829 and removed two granite lion statues from Gebel Barkal which were later presented to the British Museum (EA 1 and 2); he formed an extensive collection of Egyptian antiquities (over 2,000 objects), added to by his descendants, of which a catalogue by Samuel Birch was published in 1880; he accompanied Sir John Herschel's expedition to the Cape, 1834; DCL, Oxford, 1841; FRS; FSA; FGS; FRAS; he financed E. W. Lane's Arabic Lexikon and sent him to Egypt to collect materials; his wife, nee Lady Eleanor Grosvenor, continued to support Lane after the Duke's death; he succeeded as 4th Duke, 1847; he also restored Alnwick Castle and greatly improved the estate; First Lord of the Admiralty, 1852-3; a Trustee of the British Museum; the bulk of the Alnwick collection of antiquities were purchased by the University of Durham in 1950, but some pieces were sold at the same time to the British Museum; his papers are at Alnwick Castle; he died in Alnwick, 12 Feb. 1865, and was buried in the Percy Chapel.
Archival history
Copies made for Professor Griffith.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Transferred from Professor Griffith's Collection.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Typescript of journals (1827-1829) and negatives of drawings, mainly of Upper Nubia by Major Felix (1828).
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Property of the Griffith Institute. No restrictions. Consultation only.
Conditions governing reproduction
Copyright Duke of Northumberland at Alnwick Castle.
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Alnwick Castle, Northumberland.
Existence and location of copies
These are copies (typescript and glass plate negatives).