![Mary Brodrick Egyptologist](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Mary_Brodrick_Egyptologist.jpg)
Mary (May) Brodrick (5 April 1858 – 13 July 1933) was a British
archaeologist and
Egyptologist
Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religiou ...
who was one of the first female excavators in Egypt. She persisted in her studies despite the initial opposition of her tutors and fellow students and achieved distinction in her field. The ''
Daily Mail'' described her in 1906 as "perhaps the greatest lady Egyptologist of the day".
Early life
Brodrick was born at 18 Navarino Terrace,
[Brodrick, Mary (1858–1933).]
David Gill, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'', Oxford University Press. Retrieved 2 February 2015. Dalston
Dalston () is an area of East London, in the London Borough of Hackney. It is northeast of Charing Cross. Dalston began as a hamlet on either side of Dalston Lane, and as the area urbanised the term also came to apply to surrounding areas includ ...
, Middlesex (now London), in 1858,
[ the eldest daughter of Thomas and Mary Brodrick. Thomas Brodrick was a solicitor and the 1861 census shows the family living within the Liberty of the Close, in the grounds of Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire. Mary Brodrick had sisters Edith and Ethel. A brother, Thomas, born around 1862, died in South Africa in 1888.
Brodrick was the first woman to study Egyptology under ]Gaston Maspero
Sir Gaston Camille Charles Maspero (23 June 1846 – 30 June 1916) was a French Egyptologist known for popularizing the term "Sea Peoples" in an 1881 paper.
Maspero's son, Henri Maspero, became a notable sinologist and scholar of East Asia.
...
at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
, and Hebrew and Semitic archaeology under Ernest Renan at the Collège de France
The Collège de France (), formerly known as the ''Collège Royal'' or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment ('' grand établissement'') in France. It is located in Paris n ...
. Neither had been encouraging at first. Maspero had objected, "But we do not take little girls here", and Renan had vowed "I have never taught a woman in my life, and I never will".[Janssen, Rosaling & Jac. (1999) "Excavating in the Petrie Museum" in A. Leahy & J. Tait (Eds.) ''Studies on Ancient Egypt in Honour of H.S. Smith''. London: ]Egypt Exploration Society
The Egypt Exploration Society (EES) is a British non-profit organization. The society was founded in 1882 by Amelia Edwards and Reginald Stuart Poole in order to examine and excavate in the areas of Egypt and Sudan. The intent was to study and ana ...
, pp. 151–156. When Brodrick insisted on attending, Maspero took the matter up with the Sorbonne council who found nothing in the rules to prevent a woman attending. According to Brodrick, Maspero warned her that she would "probably have a very bad time" and indeed when she first attended she found the students to be rough, rude, and smelly. On one occasion they poured ink down her back. Brodrick simply laughed their tricks off and eventually became great friends with them.[
]
Career
Back in England, Brodrick entered College Hall, London
College Hall is a fully catered hall of residence of the University of London. It is situated on Malet Street in the Bloomsbury district of London, United Kingdom. It is an intercollegiate hall, and as such provides accommodation for full-time stu ...
in 1888 where she studied at University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
under Stuart Poole (co-founder with Amelia Edwards of the Egypt Exploration Society
The Egypt Exploration Society (EES) is a British non-profit organization. The society was founded in 1882 by Amelia Edwards and Reginald Stuart Poole in order to examine and excavate in the areas of Egypt and Sudan. The intent was to study and ana ...
) and Peter le Page Renouf. She did not enter for a University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
degree due to her prior studies.["Dr. Mary Brodrick." by "A correspondent", ''The Times'', 22 July 1933, p. 14.] She was a member of the Committee of Philology and Literary Archaeology of the World's Columbian Exposition
The World's Columbian Exposition (also known as the Chicago World's Fair) was a world's fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The centerpiece of the Fair, hel ...
in Chicago 1893 and did work in America for the Egyptian Exploration Fund. She was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in 1893 by the College of the Sisters of Bethany
The College of the Sisters of Bethany is a defunct school located in Topeka, Kansas, United States. The school was chartered by the Kansas Territory on February 2, 1861 (although Kansas was officially admitted to the Union four days earlier) an ...
, University of Kansas, the same institution that had also awarded a PhD to Amelia Edwards
Amelia Ann Blanford Edwards (7 June 1831 – 15 April 1892), also known as Amelia B. Edwards, was an English novelist, journalist, traveller and Egyptologist. Her literary successes included the ghost story "The Phantom Coach" (1864), the novel ...
. She lectured at the British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
and studied Egyptology under Flinders Petrie
Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie ( – ), commonly known as simply Flinders Petrie, was a British Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology and the preservation of artefacts. He held the first chair of Egyp ...
in 1893–94 and 1894–95.[ She held the Pfeiffer Fellowship of College Hall from 1894–96. In 1896, she was elected a life member of the ]Bibliothèque nationale
A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...
, Paris, and a life member of College Hall, London.
From the mid 1890s, Brodrick spent most of her time outside England. She travelled to Italy, Greece and Egypt. She worked under Maspero in Egypt from 1897 to 1908[ and was one of the first female excavators in that country.] In Egypt she had her head shaved for reason of hygiene. Brodrick became part of the British establishment in Egypt and knew Lord Cromer
Earl of Cromer is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, held by members of the Baring family, of German descent. It was created for Evelyn Baring, 1st Viscount Cromer, long time British Consul-General in Egypt. He had already been cr ...
and Kitchener. She took a signed portrait of Queen Victoria to a Bedouin sheikh who had been of assistance to the British. In 1913–14, she "took the salute" at Khartoum during the Gordon Memorial Service.[
In 1913, Brodrick was appointed a Lady of Grace of the . She was elected a member (later fellow) of the Royal Geographical Society in 1916. The Mary Brodrick Prize for Geography was given by ]University College
In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies ...
, London.[
]
Writing
Brodrick edited a new edition of Heinrich Brugsch-Bey's ''Egypt under the Pharaohs'' in 1891, and in 1892 translated and edited Auguste Mariette's ''Aperçu de l'histoire ancienne d'Egypte'' which was published by Scribner's in New York, 1892, as ''Outlines of Ancient Egyptian History''.
She took on the editorship of the 9th and 10th editions of Murray's travel handbooks for Egypt (1896 and 1900) and also edited Murray's Syria and Palestine volume.
A selection of her papers and lectures on Egypt, edited by Eversley Robinson, were published posthumously in 1937.
Death
Brodrick died on 13 July 1933 in Hindhead
Hindhead is a village in Surrey, England. It is the highest village in Surrey, with buildings at between 185 and 253 metres above sea level. It is best known as the location of the Devil's Punch Bowl, a beauty spot and site of special scienti ...
, Surrey.["Deaths", ''The Times'', 15 July 1933, p. 1.] Her funeral was at St. Alban's Church in that town. As far as is known, Brodrick never married and left no descendants. Years in Egypt had taken their toll and she was not in robust health in her later years. In the year of her death she gave two addresses to College Hall, titled "Retrospect and Prospect" and "Farewell and All Hail".[
Brodrick left a net estate of £46168. She gave £500 to her friend Thyra Alleyne, principal of College Hall, and the same amount to Lucie Dobson, bursar of the hall. She left £500 each to Cornelia Cracknell and Florence Collins of The School of Gardening, Clapham, Worthing. On her brother's Cecil's death, she left the portrait of her by N. Fulcher to College Hall. After some minor legacies of chattels and possessions, the residue of her estate was left two-thirds on trust to her brother and one-third to Mrs (later Dame) Eversley Chaning Robinson and then on to College Hall. It was that, not inconsiderable, residue that provided the funds necessary to allow the completion of the long-planned extension to College Hall in 1934 which was named The Mary Brodrick Wing in her honour.]["Extension Of College Hall", ''The Times'', 16 November 1934, p. 11.] Her personal collection of antiquities have found their way to the Petrie Museum and her academic books to the Edwards Library.[
]
Selected publications
* Brugsch-Bey, Heinrich.
Egypt under the Pharaohs: A history derived entirely from the monuments
'. John Murray, 1891. (Editor)
* Mariette, Auguste.
Outlines of Ancient Egyptian History
'. Scribner's, New York, 1892. (Translator and editor)
*"The Tomb of Pepu ankh (khua), near Sharona". ''PSBA'', 21 (1899), pp. 26–33. (With Anna Anderson Morton)
* ''The Life and Confession of Asenath, The @Daughter of Pentephres of Heliopolis Narrating How The All-Beautiful Joseph Took Her To Wife''. P. Wellby, London, 1900. (With Peter Le Page Renouf)
* ''A Handbook for Travellers in Lower and Upper Egypt, including descriptions of the course of the Nile through Egypt and Nubia, Alexandria, Cairo, the Pyramids, Thebes, the First and Second Cataracts to Khartûm, the Suez Canal, the Peninsula of Mount Sinai, the Oases, the Fayyûm, etc.''. 9th edition. John Murray, London, 1896. (Editor) (also 10th edition, 1900)
*
A Concise Dictionary of Egyptian Archaeology: A handbook for students and travellers
'. Methuen, London, 1902. (With Anna Anderson Morton)
* ''A Handbook for Travellers in Syria and Palestine, including a short account of the geography, history, and religious and political divisions of these countries, together with detailed descriptions of Jerusalem, Damascus, Palmyra, Baalbek, and the interesting ruined cities of Moab, Gilead, and Bashan''. Revised edition. Edward Stanford, London, 1903. (Editor)
*
The Trial and Crucifixion of Jesus Christ of Nazareth
'. John Murray, London, 1908.
* ''Egypt: Papers and Lectures by the Late Mary Brodrick''. De La More Press, London, 1937. (Selected and edited by Eversley Robinson)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brodrick, Mary
1858 births
1933 deaths
English archaeologists
British Egyptologists
English travel writers
British women travel writers
Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society
University of Kansas alumni
People from Hackney Central
British women archaeologists
British women historians
People from Dalston