Thomas Athol Joyce OBE FRAI (4 August 1878 – 3 January 1942) was a British anthropologist. He became an acknowledged expert on American and African Anthropology 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 ...

. He led expeditions to excavate Maya sites in

British Honduras British Honduras was a British Crown colony on the east coast of Central America, south of Mexico, from 1783 to 1964, then a self-governing colony, renamed Belize in June 1973,

. He wrote articles for the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various t ...

'' including "Negro" which was derided in 1915 for its assumption of racial inferiority. He was the President of both the Royal Anthropological Institute and the Anthropological section of the

British Association The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chie ...

Life

Joyce was born in Camden Town in London in 1878. His father was a newspaper editor and he went on to

Hertford College, Oxford Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The col ...

where he obtained an M.A. in 1902 and joined the

. He served as an assistant to Charles Hercules Read for whom he gathered ethnographic artefacts by collaborating with others who travelled abroad, like Emil Torday who went to the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

.Raymond John Howgego, "Joyce, Thomas Athol (1878–1942)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, May 201
accessed 1 December 2013
/ref> Joyce took an increasing interest in American anthropology including a description of what is now the Totem Pole in the British Museum's Great Court and the stories that it tells. At the end of the first World War he was awarded the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

for his service on the General Staff where he had risen to the rank of captain despite not joining the staff until 1916.Retirement of T A Joyce
''Nature'', 142, 146–146, 23 July 1938, doi:10.1038/142146a0, retrieved 1 December 2013 Before this he had written three textbooks ''South American Archaeology'' in 1912, ''Mexican Archaeology'' in 1914 and ''Central American Archaeology'' (1916). These successes are contrasted with an earlier entry written for "Negro" in the ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' where he stated that "Mentally the negro is inferior to the white". Joyce's description was described as ridiculous by W. E. B. Du Bois. Du Bois derided Joyce's ethnographic description of

Negro In the English language, ''negro'' is a term historically used to denote persons considered to be of Black African heritage. The word ''negro'' means the color black in both Spanish and in Portuguese, where English took it from. The term can be ...

s as culturally and intellectually inferior. Despite this Joyce was still employed as an expert to lecture to British colonial administrators on "native races". Joyce was divorced by his wife, Lilian (born Dayrell) in 1925 and his wife remarried the following year. Joyce's second partner was the travel writer Lilian Elwyn Elliott. Elliott had married before and no evidence has been found of her divorce or a formal marriage ceremony with Joyce. In 1927 Joyce eventually travelled abroad when he led an annual expedition team, including members of the Royal Geographical Society, to

British Honduras British Honduras was a British Crown colony on the east coast of Central America, south of Mexico, from 1783 to 1964, then a self-governing colony, renamed Belize in June 1973,

. Reporting regularlyReport on the British Museum Expedition to British Honduras
1927, T. A. Joyce, J. Cooper Clark and J. E. Thompson, Page 296 of 295–323 on the excavation of Mayan sites. In 1927 Joyce published a book on Mayan art where he proposed that Mexican relief sculpture exceeded that of the quality of Egypt of Mesopotamia. He also made the claim that given that they had not discovered the potter's wheel they had created very high quality ceramics. His wife came with him in 1929 and she changed her interests, spending the next ten years in complementary studies and writing. Elliott, Joyce's partner still took a great interest in anthropology even after Joyce died. Joyce became President of the Royal Anthropological Institute in 1931 following long service since 1903 including periods as secretary and a frequent Vice-President. He was also President of the Anthropological section of the

in 1934. Joyce died in

Wroxham Wroxham is a village and civil parish in the English county of Norfolk. The civil parish of Wroxham has an area of 6.21 square kilometres, and in 2001, had a population of 1,532 in 666 households. A reduced population of 1,502 in 653 households ...

in Norfolk in 1942.

Works

Women of all nations, a record of their characteristics, habits, manners, customs and influence; (1908)Women of All Nations: A Record of Their Characteristics, Habits, Manners, Customs, and Influence, Volume 2Women of All Nations: A Record of Their Characteristics, Habits, Manners, Customs, and Influence, Volume 4''South American Archaeology''
(London: Lee Warner, 1912).
''Mexican Archaeology''
(London: Lee Warner, 1914).
''Central American and West Indian Archaeology''
(London: Lee Warner, 1916).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joyce, Thomas Athol 1878 births 1942 deaths People from Camden Town British anthropologists Employees of the British Museum Alumni of Hertford College, Oxford People from Wroxham Fellows of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland Presidents of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland