Later Victorian Portraits Catalogue

Sir (William Matthew) Flinders Petrie (1853-1942), Archaeologist

Egyptologist and archaeologist; born 3 June 1853 in south-east London, grandson of navigator Matthew Flinders. Educated at home; first visit to Egypt to measure pyramids 1880–82; worked with Egyptian Exploration Fund and Palestine Exploration Fund on excavations in Near East 1880s and 1890s; Professor of Egyptology at University College London 1892–1933 and continued annual digs until 1939; elected to Royal Society 1902, British Academy 1904; established British School of Archaeology in Egypt 1906; knighted 1923; also received numerous honorary degrees; died 29 July 1942 in Jerusalem.

In his early career he was supported by Amelia Edwards, who nominated him for the chair she endowed at UCL, where he also created a study collection now housed in the Petrie Museum. Colleagues included Margaret Murray. Petrie’s major contributions to the study of pre-history were the science of stratification and publications on both methodology and specific sites.

A driven man, who claimed that ‘mental overwork is a necessity to me’,[1] Petrie was known for his spartan habits, stubborn views and impatient manner; he was described as ‘a zealous uncompromising pioneer, a man of brilliant insight and wayward energy, fierce with opponents, but extraordinarily kind to anyone willing to learn from him’.[2] One of his last students remembered ‘twinkling eyes, an unexpectedly high, light voice, bushy eyebrows and a patriarchal white beard’. He was said to judge assistants by frugality of appetite and ability to run up stairs.[3]

Dr Jan Marsh

Footnotesback to top

1) Letter from Petrie to his father, quoted Drower 1985, p.207.
2) J.L. Myers, Man, vol.43, 1943, p.21.
3) Drower 1985, pp.392–3.

Referencesback to top

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