Warren Royal Dawson OBE FRSE FRSM FZS FSA FLS FRSL (13 October 1888, Ealing – 5 May 1968,

Bletchley Bletchley is a constituent town of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated in the south-west of Milton Keynes, and is split between the civil parishes of Bletchley and Fenny Stratford and West Bletchley. Bletchley is best know ...

) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

librarian, insurance agent,

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 ...

and antiquarian.

Biography

He was born in Ealing in west

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

on 13 October 1888. He was educated at St Paul's School, attending the school between 1900 and 1905,but was forced to abandon his education on the death of his father in 1903. He entered the insurance business, establishing his own underwriting agency in 1922; a partnership in 1929 allowed him leisure to pursue his scholarly interests. He had married Alice Helen Wood in 1912. Ill-health prompted retirement in 1936 to live in Simpson, a village near Bletchley, Buckinghamshire.James, T. G. H., 'W. R. Dawson', ''The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology'' 55 (August 1969), pp. 211-14 Encouraged by

Wallis Budge Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge (27 July 185723 November 1934) was an English Egyptologist, Orientalist, and philologist who worked for the British Museum and published numerous works on the ancient Near East. He made numerous trips ...

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 ...

, Dawson began serious amateur study of Egyptian hieroglyphs in 1914. A lifelong interest in Egyptian mummification began with collaboration with the anatomist

Grafton Elliot Smith Sir Grafton Elliot Smith (15 August 1871 – 1 January 1937) was an Australian-British anatomist, Egyptologist and a proponent of the hyperdiffusionist view of prehistory. He believed in the idea that cultural innovations occur only once and ...

. Dawson's study of ancient medicine resulted in ''Magician and Leech'', and many later articles. Though Dawson never himself travelled to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...

, "he talked of it as if he had known it well. Much of his knowledge of the land he had acquired directly from the best guides – the great Egyptologists of the last generation, Budge,

Griffith Griffith may refer to: People * Griffith (name) * Griffith (surname) * Griffith (given name) Places Antarctica * Mount Griffith, Ross Dependency * Griffith Peak (Antarctica), Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Glacier, Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Rid ...

, Gardiner,

Petrie Petrie is a surname of Scottish origin which may refer to: People * Alexander Petrie (died 1662), Scottish minister * Alistair Petrie (born 1970), English actor * Andrew Petrie (1798–1872), Scottish-born builder, architect and first free settle ...

Newberry Newberry is a surname, a variant of Newbury. Notable people with the surname include: * Booker Newberry III (born 1956), American singer and keyboardist * Brennan Newberry (born, 1990), American professional stock car racing driver * Brian Newb ...

Gunn Gunn may refer to: Places * Gunn City, Missouri, a village * Gunn, Northern Territory, outer suburb of Darwin * Gunn, Alberta, Canada, a hamlet * Gunn Valley, a mountain valley in British Columbia, Canada * Gun Lake (British Columbia), a Canad ...

.". He published biographical accounts of

Thomas Pettigrew Thomas Joseph Pettigrew (28 October 1791 – 23 November 1865), sometimes known as "Mummy" Pettigrew, was a surgeon and antiquarian who became an expert on Ancient Egyptian mummies. He became well known in London social circles for his private ...

(1931),

Charles Wycliffe Goodwin Charles Wycliffe Goodwin (1817–1878) was an English Egyptologist, bible scholar, lawyer and judge. His last judicial position was as Acting Chief Judge of the British Supreme Court for China and Japan. Early life Goodwin was born on 2 April 18 ...

(1934) and

(1938), as well as ''Who was who in Egyptology'' (1951), a 'biographical index' to Egyptologists. Dawson also catalogued the manuscripts of the

Medical Society of London The Medical Society of London is one of the oldest surviving medical societies (being organisations of voluntary association, rather than regulation or training) in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1773 by the Quaker physician and philanthro ...

(1932), the

Linnean Society The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

(1936), and the Huxley Papers in the Imperial College of Science (1946); he calendared the correspondence of Joseph Banks for the British Museum (1958). He was honorary librarian to

Lloyd's of London Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gove ...

1927 to 1936. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1928. His proposers were Robert Ludwig Mond, James Ritchie, Lewis William Gunther Malcolm, and

William Fraser Hume Dr William Fraser Hume FRSE (1867–1949) was a British geologist specialising in Egypt. Life He was born in Cheltenham in England on 1 October 1867 the son of George Hume. He received his early education in Russia and at College Galliard in ...

Family

He was married to Alice Helen Wood in 1912.

Works

* (with Grafton Elliot Smith) ''Egyptian mummies'', 1924 * ''Mummy as a Drug'', 1927 * ''Bibliography of Works relating to Mummification in Egypt'', 1928 * ''Magician and leech: a study in the beginnings of medicine with special reference to ancient Egypt'', 1929 * ''The custom of couvade'', 1929 * ''The beginnings, Egypt and Assyria'', 1930 * ''The bridle of Pegasus; studies in magic, mythology and folklore'', 1930 * ''Who Was Who in Egyptology'', First edition, 1951.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, Warren Royal English Egyptologists 1888 births 1968 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Officers of the Order of the British Empire