- Arthur Weigall
Arthur Edward Pearse Brome Weigall (1880–1934) was an English
Egyptologist , stage designer, journalist and author whose works span the whole range from histories ofAncient Egypt through historical biographies, guide-books, popular novels, screenplays and lyrics.Arthur Weigall was born in the year in which his father, an army officer, died on the North West Frontier. As a young widow, his mother turned missionary in the inner-city slums of late-Victorian England. So Arthur Weigall went from an unconventional home life in
Salford to Wellington College, a school with strong establishment and military connections. He started work as an apprentice clerk in theCity of London , but a youthful fascination withgenealogy led him to thepharaoh s ofAncient Egypt and so intoEgyptology . A mysterious patroness encouraged him to apply forNew College, Oxford . This was a mistake (Egyptology was not yet studied at Oxford) so he went on toLeipzig , and on his return to England found work withFlinders Petrie , first atUniversity College London and then at Abydos inEgypt .Life with
Flinders Petrie was notoriously harsh, and after a while Arthur Weigall went to work forFriedrich Wilhelm von Bissing , a German Egyptologist. In early 1905Howard Carter was staying with Arthur Weigall atSaqqara when after an incident with some French tourists,Howard Carter 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 replaceHoward Carter atLuxor , responsible for protecting and managing the antiquities of a region that extended fromNag Hamadi to the border withSudan .At
Luxor , 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 vanishing into the ravenous markets of Europe and North America. He remained inLuxor until 1911. This was a time of intense activity – the discovery of the tombs ofYuya and Tuya,KV55 , the tomb ofHoremheb , travels in the Eastern Desert, a popular biography of Akhnaten, a Guide to the Antiquities of Upper Egypt. He worked withAlan Gardiner on the tombs of the nobles and may well have helpedHoward Carter to the placement withLord Carnarvon that led to the discovery of the tomb ofTutankhamun . He was deeply enmeshed in the bureaucratic and social entanglements ofLuxor andCairo , coming into close contact withFlinders Petrie ,Gaston Maspero ,Theodore Davis ,Percy Newberry ,Howard Carter and others, and making friends withSir Ronald Storrs and the glittering world of anEdwardian society inEgypt . It was too much for him. A breakdown took him fromEgypt andWorld War I cut off his plans to create an institute ofEgyptology for Egyptians.In
London duringWorld War I Arthur Weigall became a successful set-designer for the London revue stage. An association withfilm began: he worked withBannister Merwin ,Jack Buchanan , andPhyllis Monkton on the film "Her Heritage ," and in the 1920sLord Northcliffe appointed him film critic for the "Daily Mail ." Later, one of his novels was made into the film "Burning Sands "by the producerGeorge Melford .Journalism brought him back to
Egypt . He covered the opening of the tomb ofTutankhamun as correspondent for the "Daily Mail , "in direct opposition to Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon's attempts with "The Times "to monopolise the story, a monopoly which he regarded as both wrong and politically damaging to British relations withEgypt at a time when nationalist feeling was strong. At the tomb ofTutankhamun he sawLord 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 andUpper Egypt . His second marriage (to a pianist, the sister ofBeatrice Lillie ) returned him to the world of show business as a talented writer of lyrics.Further reading
* ISBN 0-09-185047-9 Arthur Weigall, "A guide to the antiquities of Egypt"
* ISBN 0-7103-1001-3 Arthur Weigall, "The Life and Times of Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt"
* ISBN 0-8369-1217-9 Arthur Weigall, "Personalities of antiquity"
* ISBN 1-86064-566-6 Julie Hankey, "A Passion for Egypt: A Biography of Arthur Weigall"
* ISBN 9989-920-86-9 Arthur Weigall, "Alexander The Great"
* Arthur Weigall, "Laura Was My Camel" (Thornton Butterworth Ltd, London, 1933)External links
*gutenberg|no=16160|name=The Treasury of Ancient Egypt
* [http://www.thegreen.co.uk/arthur_weigall A page about the biography of Arthur Weigall]
* [http://www.arfalpha.com/MadelineOfTheDesert/madelineofthedesert.htm Free eBook - Fiction by Arthur Wegall of Adventure & Romance in Egpyt]
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