Arthur Edward Pearse Brome Weigall (1880 – 3 January 1934) 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 ...

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 ...

, stage designer, journalist and author whose works span the whole range from histories of Ancient Egypt through historical biographies, guide-books, popular novels, screenplays and lyrics.

Biography

Arthur Weigall was born in the year in which his father, Major Arthur Archibald Denne Weigall, died on the North West Frontier. The Weigall family were prominent in Victorian society as artists, marrying into the aristocracy; his cousins were Conservative politician Sir

Archibald Weigall Sir William Ernest George Archibald Weigall, 1st Baronet, (8 December 1874 – 3 June 1952) was a British Conservative politician who served as Governor of South Australia from 9 June 1920 until 30 May 1922. Family Weigall was the fifth son of ...

, 1st Baronet,

Governor of South Australia The governor of South Australia is the representative in South Australia of the Monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. The governor performs the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as does the governor-gen ...

from 1920 to 1922, and the cricketers

Gerry Gerry is both a surname and a masculine or feminine given name. As a given name, it is often a short form (hypocorism) of Gerard, Gerald or Geraldine. Notable people with the name include: Surname *Elbridge Gerry (1744–1814), fifth US vice pre ...

and Louis Weigall. As a young widow, his mother, the former Alice Henrietta Cowen, worked as a missionary in the inner-city slums of late-Victorian England. Arthur Weigall went from an unconventional home life in

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

Wellington College Wellington College may refer to: * Wellington College, Berkshire, an independent school in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England ** Wellington College International Shanghai ** Wellington College International Tianjin *Wellington College, Wellington, New ...

, a school with strong establishment and military connections. He started work as an apprentice clerk in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

, but a youthful fascination with

genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

led him to the

pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until th ...

s of Ancient Egypt and so into

Egyptology 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 relig ...

. A mysterious patroness encouraged him to apply for

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at ...

. This was a mistake (

was not yet studied at Oxford) so before completing his admission tests he went on to

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

, hoping to learn German and then enrol in a German university.Julie Hankey, ''A Passion for Egypt: Arthur Weigall, Tutankhamun and the 'Curse of the Pharaohs, Londra 2007, TPP, pp. 24–25. This didn't happen, and on his return to England Weigall found work with Egyptologist

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 ...

, first 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 = ...

and then at

Abydos Abydos may refer to: *Abydos, a progressive metal side project of German singer Andy Kuntz *Abydos (Hellespont), an ancient city in Mysia, Asia Minor * Abydos (''Stargate''), name of a fictional planet in the ''Stargate'' science fiction universe ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

. Life with

was notoriously harsh, and after a while Arthur Weigall went to work for

Friedrich Wilhelm von Bissing Friedrich Wilhelm von Bissing (22 April 1873, Potsdam – 12 January 1956, Oberaudorf am Inn) was a German Egyptologist. He was the son of Prussian general Moritz Ferdinand von Bissing (1844–1917). He studied classical philology, archaeology, ...

, a German Egyptologist. In early 1905

Howard Carter Howard Carter (9 May 18742 March 1939) was a British archaeologist and Egyptologist who discovered the intact tomb of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Tutankhamun in November 1922, the best-preserved pharaonic tomb ever found in the Valley of the ...

was staying with Arthur Weigall at

Saqqara Saqqara ( ar, سقارة, ), also spelled Sakkara or Saccara in English , is an Egyptian village in Giza Governorate, that contains ancient burial grounds of Egyptian royalty, serving as the necropolis for the ancient Egyptian capital, Memph ...

when after an incident with some French tourists,

was forced to resign his post as Chief Inspector of Antiquities for Upper Egypt. Suddenly, at the age of 25, Arthur Weigall was appointed to replace

Luxor Luxor ( ar, الأقصر, al-ʾuqṣur, lit=the palaces) is a modern city in Upper (southern) Egypt which includes the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of ''Thebes''. Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open-a ...

, responsible for protecting and managing the antiquities of a region that extended from

Nag Hammadi Nag Hammadi ( ; ar, نجع حمادى ) is a city in Upper Egypt. It is located on the west bank of the Nile in the Qena Governorate, about north-west of Luxor. It had a population of close to 43,000 . History The town of Nag Hammadi is name ...

to the border with

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

. At

, Arthur Weigall threw himself with immense energy into aspects of the job that in his view had been somewhat neglected – the protection and conservation of monuments that were steadily being bought up and moved to Europe and North America. He remained in

until 1911. This was a time of intense activity – the discovery of the tombs of

Yuya Yuya (sometimes Iouiya, or Yuaa, also known as Yaa, Ya, Yiya, Yayi, Yu, Yuyu, Yaya, Yiay, Yia, and Yuy) was a powerful ancient Egyptian courtier during the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt (circa 1390 BC). He was married to Thuya, an Egyptian noble ...

and

Tuya A tuya is a flat-topped, steep-sided volcano formed when lava erupts through a thick glacier or ice sheet. They are rare worldwide, being confined to regions which were covered by glaciers and had active volcanism during the same period. As lava ...

, KV55, the tomb of

Horemheb Horemheb, also spelled Horemhab or Haremhab ( egy, ḥr-m-ḥb, meaning " Horus is in Jubilation") was the last pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt (1550–1295 BC). He ruled for at least 14 years between 1319 BC and 1292 BC. ...

, travels in the

Eastern Desert The Eastern Desert (Archaically known as Arabia or the Arabian Desert) is the part of the Sahara desert that is located east of the Nile river. It spans of North-Eastern Africa and is bordered by the Nile river to the west and the Red Sea an ...

, a popular biography of Akhnaten, a ''Guide to the Antiquities of Upper Egypt''. He worked with

Alan Gardiner Sir Alan Henderson Gardiner, (29 March 1879 – 19 December 1963) was an English Egyptologist, linguist, philologist, and independent scholar. He is regarded as one of the premier Egyptologists of the early and mid-20th century. Personal life G ...

on the tombs of the nobles and may well have helped

to the placement with Lord Carnarvon that led to the discovery of the tomb of

Tutankhamun Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...

. He was deeply enmeshed in the bureaucratic and social entanglements of

and

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

, coming into close contact with

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 ...

, Theodore Davis,

Percy Newberry Percy Edward Newberry (23 April 1869 – 7 August 1949) was a British Egyptologist. Biography Percy Newberry was born in Islington, London on 23 April 1869. His parents were Caroline () and Henry James Newberry, a woollen warehouseman. Newbe ...

and others, and making friends with

Sir Ronald Storrs Sir Ronald Henry Amherst Storrs (19 November 1881 – 1 November 1955) was an official in the British Foreign and Colonial Office. He served as Oriental Secretary in Cairo, Military Governor of Jerusalem, Governor of Cyprus, and Governor of N ...

and the wider

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

society in

. However, a breakdown took him from

, and

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

cut off his plans to create an institute of

for Egyptians. In

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 ...

during

Arthur Weigall became a successful set-designer for the London revue stage. An association with

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

began: he worked with

Bannister Merwin Henry Bannister Merwin (1873 – 22 February 1922), was an American poet, magazine editor, novelist, film director and screenwriter during the silent era. He wrote as many as 141 films between 1909 and 1921. He was associated with Edison S ...

Jack Buchanan Walter John Buchanan (2 April 1891 – 20 October 1957) was a Scottish theatre and film actor, singer, dancer, producer and director. He was known for three decades as the embodiment of the debonair man-about-town in the tradition of George G ...

, and Phyllis Monkman on the film '' Her Heritage'' (1919), and in the 1920s

Lord Northcliffe Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe (15 July 1865 – 14 August 1922), was a British newspaper and publishing magnate. As owner of the ''Daily Mail'' and the ''Daily Mirror'', he was an early developer of popular journal ...

appointed him film critic for the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...

.'' Later, one of his novels was made into the film '' Burning Sands'' (1922) by the producer

George Melford George H. Melford (born George Henry Knauff, February 19, 1877 – April 25, 1961) was an American stage and film actor and director. Often taken for granted as a director today, the stalwart Melford's name by the 1920s was, like Cecil B. DeMil ...

. Journalism brought him back to

. He covered the opening of the tomb of

as correspondent for the ''

, ''in direct opposition to

and Lord Carnarvon's attempts with ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

''to monopolise the story, which Weigall regarded as both wrong and politically damaging to British relations with

at a time of strong nationalist feeling. At the tomb of

he saw Lord Carnarvon joke as he prepared to enter the tomb, and is reported as saying 'if he goes down in that spirit, I give him six weeks to live'. Arthur Weigall died in 1934. During his first marriage to Hortense Schleiter, an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

, he wrote vivid personal accounts of his life in

and

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancient E ...

. His second marriage (to the pianist Muriel Lillie, sister of the comedian

Beatrice Lillie Beatrice Gladys Lillie, Lady Peel (29 May 1894 – 20 January 1989), known as Bea Lillie, was a Canadian-born British actress, singer and comedic performer. She began to perform as a child with her mother and sister. She made her West End theat ...

) returned him to the world of show business as a talented writer of lyrics.

Selected publications

* Arthur Weigall, ''A Report on the Antiquities of Lower Nubia'', Thornton Butterworth, London, 1907 * Arthur Weigall
''A Catalogue of the Weights and Balances in the Cairo Museum''
1908 * Arthur Weigall
''A Treasury of Ancient Egypt''
Rand McNally & Company, Chicago and New York, 1913 * Arthur Weigall
''Travels in the Upper Egyptian Deserts''
William Blackwood and Sons, London, 1913 * Arthur Weigall
''The Life and Times of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt''
G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1914 * Arthur Weigal
''A History of Events in Egypt from 1798 to 1914''
William Blackwood and Sons, London, 1915 * Arthur Weigall, ''Madeline of the Desert'', 1920 * Arthur Weigall
''The Life and Times of Marc Antony''
Garden City Publishing Company. New York, 1921 * Arthur Weigall
''Bedouin Love''
George H. Doran Company, New York, 1922 * Arthur Weigall
''The Life and Times of Akhnaton''
Thornton Butterworth, London, 1922, reprinted 2000, * Arthur Weigall
''The Glory of the Pharaohs''
Thornton Butterworth, London, first published March 1923, reprinted 1923, First impression Keystone library, 1936 * Arthur Weigall, ''Tutankhamen And Other Essays'', Thornton Butterworth Ltd., London, first published November 1923 * Arthur Weigall, ''A History of the Pharaohs'', Thornton Butterworth Ltd., London, 1925
Volume 1 - The First Eleven DynastiesVolume 2 - The 12th to 18th Dynasties
* Arthur Weigall, ''Wanderings in Roman Britain'', Thornton Butterworth, London, 1926 * Arthur Weigall
''Wanderings in Anglo-Saxon Britain''
George H. Doran Company, New York, 1927 * * Arthur Weigall, ''Personalities of Antiquity'', Doubleday, Doran, & company, 1928. * Arthur Weigall, ''Paganism in Our Christianity'', orig. pub. 1928, Kessinger Publishing 2003 reprint, * Arthur Weigall, ''Sapho of Lesbos: Her Life and Times'', Thornton Butterworth, London, 1932 * Arthur Weigall, ''Alexander The Great'', 1933. * Arthur Weigall, ''Laura Was My Camel'', Thornton Butterworth Ltd, London, 1933 * Arthur Weigall
''Nero: Emperor of Rome''
Thornton Butterworth, London, 1933 * Arthur Weigall, ''The Dweller in the Desert'' * Arthur Weigall, ''A Guide to the Antiquities of Egypt'', * Julie Hankey, ''A Passion for Egypt: A Biography of Arthur Weigall'',

References

External links

* * *
A page about the biography of Arthur Weigall

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weigall, Arthur 1880 births 1934 deaths 20th-century English writers 20th-century archaeologists Academics of University College London Critics of the Christ myth theory English Egyptologists