Herbert Joseph Weld Blundell (1852 – 5 February 1935) was an English traveller in Africa, archaeologist, philanthropist and yachtsman. He shortened his surname from Weld Blundell to Weld, in 1924.

Life to 1922

He was educated at Stonyhurst College. He travelled to

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkme ...

in 1891, then for a decade 1894 to 1905 in North Africa and East Africa. He was a correspondent for the ''Morning Post'' during the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...

. Expeditions included *1891-2

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, with

Lorenzo Giuntini Andrew Lawrence (“Lorenzo”) Giuntini was born ca. 1843 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. His father, Andrea Giuntini, was born ca. 1808 in Italy and, having immigrated to England, married Mary Woulds on 12 May 1839 in Lincoln. Lorenzo Gi ...

, making casts of the

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

s *1894-5 Libya and

Cyrenaica Cyrenaica ( ) or Kyrenaika ( ar, برقة, Barqah, grc-koi, Κυρηναϊκή ��παρχίαKurēnaïkḗ parkhíā}, after the city of Cyrene), is the eastern region of Libya. Cyrenaica includes all of the eastern part of Libya between ...

, creating a photographic record *1898 Abyssinia Expedition with Lord Lovat and Reginald KoettlitzRichard Snailham
" Europeans on the Blue Nile Region"

Anglo-Ethiopian Society The Anglo-Ethiopian Society's stated goal is "to foster knowledge of Ethiopian culture, history and way of life and to encourage friendship between the British and Ethiopian peoples." The society was founded in November 1948 by Professor Norman B ...

, 1992 (accessed 29 June 2009) *1904-5 Around

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, ...

*1922 Weld Blundell Expedition, found the Weld-Blundell Prism, now in the Ashmolean Museum In 1921–1922 he presented the Weld Blundell Collection to the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

From 1923

He backed a 1923 expedition to the Yemen, and the Field Museum-Oxford University Joint Expedition to Mesopotamia ( Kish). In 1923 he married Theodora Mclaren-Morrison, who died in 1928. In the same year he inherited Lulworth Castle, from a cousin, Reginald Joseph Weld Blundell. In 1928, on the death of Reginald's brother Humphrey, he inherited the rest of the Lulworth Estate, of the Weld-Blundell family. In 1923 he started campaigning against Army use of Bindon Hill as a firing range, the beginning of the long conflict that centred on the fate of Tyneham and other parts of the Lulworth Estate. From 1924 he owned a large

yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...

, S/Y '' Lulworth''. It was a prominent racing craft of its time, competing 28 times in 1925 and always placing in the first three. In 1929, Weld's intention to sell two family heirlooms, the Luttrell Psalter and the

Bedford Book of Hours The Bedford Hours is a French late medieval book of hours. It dates to the early fifteenth century (c. 1410–30); some of its miniatures, including the portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Bedford, have been attributed to the Bedford Master ...

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

came up against a legal issue, when just three days before these famous illuminated manuscripts were due to go under the hammer, it was discovered by

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 docume ...

lawyers that they and all the heirlooms and ' chattels' in Lulworth Castle were apparently the property of Mrs Mary Angela Noyes, née Mayne, wife of the poet Alfred Noyes, earlier married to Richard Shireburn Weld-Blundell, the Weld-Blundell heir who had been killed in 1916. Weld went to court, but his appeal was rejected only a few hours before the sale. The British Museum then purchased both manuscripts from Mrs Noyes with a loan from John Pierpont Morgan. Later in 1929 Lulworth Castle was badly damaged by fire, and some of the disputed heirlooms were burned.Wright, p. 116, pp. 119–120. Upon his death, the Lulworth Estate passed to a cousin,

Joseph William Weld Colonel Sir Joseph William Weld, OBE, TD (1909-1992), was Lord Lieutenant of Dorset, a British army officer and landowner. A direct descendant of Sir Humphrey Weld (died 1610), and member of a noted recusant family, he became owner of the Lulwo ...

, subsequently a Lord Lieutenant of Dorset.

Works

*''The Royal Chronicle of Abyssinia, 1769–1840, with Translation and Notes'' (1922)

References

* Patrick Wright (2002 revision), ''The Village That Died for England''

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weld Blundell, Herbert 1852 births 1935 deaths English archaeologists People educated at Stonyhurst College 19th-century archaeologists 20th-century archaeologists British war correspondents War correspondents of the Second Boer War Herbert Weld Blundell