Percy E. Newberry

Dates: 
1868-1949

British Egyptologist and botanist; he was born in Islington, London, 23 April 1868, son of Henry James N., warehouseman, and Caroline Wyatt; he was educated at King’s College School and King’s Coll., London, MA; OBE; he studied botany and archaeology and assisted R. S. Poole with the secretarial work of the EEF during its early days, 1884-6; because of his botanical knowledge he was able to be of assistance to Petrie and contributed chapters to Hawara, 1889, and Kahun, 1890; his first independent work came when he was appointed to take charge of the Archaeological Survey expedition at Beni Hasan and El-Bersha, 1890-4; he next carried out a survey of the Theban Necropolis and superintended excavations for Lord Amherst, the Marquis of Northampton, Margaret Benson, Theodore Davis, and Mrs Tytus, 1895-1905; he was appointed Brunner Professor of Egyptology in the University of Liverpool, 1906-19; Hon. Reader in Egyptian Art, Liverpool, 1919; Fellow of King’s Coll., London, 1908; Professor of Ancient Hist, and Archaeology, Cairo University, 1929- 33; President Section H. British Assoc. 1923; Vice Pres. Roy. Anthrop. Inst., 1926; Vice Pres. EES with which he was associated for 65 years; from 1889 onwards he contributed very many articles to AE, ASAE, JEA, AAA, PSBA, and ZÄS; he married in 1907 Essie Johnston; his main works were, Beni Hasan, pts. i and ii, with plans by G. Willoughby Fraser, 1893-4; El Bersheh, pt. i, plan by G. Willoughby Fraser, pt. ii with F. Ll. Griffith, 1894-5; The Amherst Papyri, being an account of the Egyptian papyri in the collection of .... Lord A. of Hackney ..., 1899; The Life of Rekhmira, Vezîr of Upper Egypt under Thothmes III and Amenhotep II circa 1471-1448 B.C., 1900, being only a third of the actual tomb scenes and texts; A Short History of Ancient Egypt, with J. Garstang, 1904; The Tomb of Thoutmosis IV, with H. Carter and others, 1904; Scarabs: an introduction to the study of Egyptian Seals and Signet Rings, 1906; Scarab-shaped Seals, Cairo Cat., 1907; The Timins collection of ancient Egyptian scarabs and cylinder seals, 1907; The Tomb of Iouiya and Touiyou, with H. Carter and others, 1907; Funerary Statuettes and Model Sarcophagi, 2 pts., Cairo Cat., 1930-7; he also prepared the inscriptions and translations in The Temple of Mut in Asher, 1899; his correspondence and manuscripts are now in the Griffith Institute, Oxford; his library was presented by Mrs Newberry to the Library of Egyptology, Cambridge, the Edwards Library at University College London, and the British Museum; he died in Godalming, 7 Aug. 1949.