Arthur Weigall

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Weigall at the Temple of Edfu, before 1913

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

Egyptologist, 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

Wellington College, a school with strong establishment and military connections. He started work as an apprentice clerk in the City of London, but a youthful fascination with genealogy led him to the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt and so into Egyptology. A mysterious patroness encouraged him to apply for New College, Oxford. This was a mistake (Egyptology was not yet studied at Oxford) so before completing his admission tests he went on to Leipzig, hoping to learn German and then enrol in a German university.[3] This didn't happen, and on his return to England Weigall found work with Egyptologist Flinders Petrie, first at University College London and then at Abydos in Egypt
.

Life with

Chief Inspector of Antiquities for Upper Egypt. Suddenly, at the age of 25, Arthur Weigall was appointed to replace Howard Carter at Luxor, responsible for protecting and managing the antiquities of a region that extended from Nag Hammadi to the border with Sudan
.

At

Edwardian society in Egypt. However, a breakdown took him from Egypt, and World War I cut off his plans to create an institute of Egyptology
for Egyptians.

In

Lord Northcliffe appointed him film critic for the Daily Mail. Later, one of his novels was made into the film Burning Sands (1922) by the producer George Melford
.

Journalism brought him back to Egypt. He covered the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamun as correspondent for the Daily Mail, in direct opposition to Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon's attempts with The Times to monopolise the story, which Weigall regarded as both wrong and politically damaging to British relations with Egypt at a time of strong nationalist feeling. At the tomb of Tutankhamun 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, he wrote vivid personal accounts of his life in Luxor and Upper Egypt. His second marriage (to the pianist Muriel Lillie, sister of the comedian Beatrice Lillie) returned him to the world of show business as a talented writer of lyrics.

Selected publications

References

  1. ^ Burke's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage, 107th edition, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, vol. 2, p. 1987, vol. 3, p. 4139
  2. ^ "Henry Weigall - Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951".
  3. '^ Julie Hankey, A Passion for Egypt: Arthur Weigall, Tutankhamun and the 'Curse of the Pharaohs, Londra 2007, TPP, pp. 24–25.

External links