Cecil Mallaby Firth
British Egyptologist; he was born in Ashburton, Devon, 5 July 1878, son of Henry Mallaby F. and Frances Caunter; he trained for the Bar and went to Cyprus to take up judicial work there, but went on to Egypt and entered the Antiquities Service, in which he served for 191 30 years, except whilst on military service, 1914-18; he was associated with Reisner in the Arch. Survey of Nubia, 1907-10, and undertook the preparation of a long series of reports on the excavations; he organized the Aswan Museum in 1912; he was appointed Inspector of Antiquities at Saqqara, 1913, where he carried out many important excavations, including the pyramid of King Zoser; he was about to clear the 1st Dynasty tombs when he returned to England on leave in 1931, but was taken ill with pneumonia a few days after his arrival; he married Winifred Hansard Firth; he published, Archaeological Survey of Nubia. Report 1908-1909, 2 vols. 1912; Reports 1909-11, 1915, 1927; Teti Pyramid Cemeteries, with B. G. Gunn, 2 vols. 1926; The Step Pyramid, with J. E. Quibell, 2 vols. 1935; he died in a London nursing-home, 25 July 1931.
