Thomas Pettigrew

Thomas Joseph Pettigrew
Thomas Joseph Pettigrew

Thomas Joseph Pettigrew (1791–1865), sometimes known as "Mummy" Pettigrew, was a surgeon and antiquarian who became an expert on Ancient Egyptian mummies. He became well known in London social circles for his private parties in which he unrolled and autopsied mummies for the entertainment of his guests.[1]

Born in London in 1791, Thomas Pettigrew took medical studies, first as assistant to his father, who was a naval surgeon, and later as an apprentice at the Borough Hospitals. He had a distinguished medical career, becoming surgeon to the Duke of Kent and the Duke of Sussex. Pettigrew played an active role in intellectual Georgian and Victorian society, corresponding regularly with many well known surgeons, physicians, scientists, writers and artists, such as John Coakley Lettsom, Astley Cooper, Michael Faraday, George Cruikshank and Charles Dickens.[2]

From the 1830s on, Pettigrew increasingly focused on private practice and his antiquarian interests. He developed an interest in Egyptian mummies, and in 1834 published History of Egyptian Mummies, which has been described as "the historic cornerstone of the study in English" (Peck 1998). During this time he became well known in London social circles for his private parties, at which he displayed scientific curiosities, such as Egyptian mummies and Yagan's head. The Duke of Hamilton was so impressed with Pettigrew's work that he engaged Pettigrew to mummify him after his death. The Duke of Hamilton died in August 1852, and in accordance with his wishes his body was mummified by Pettigrew and interred in a sarcophagus on his estate.

When the British Archaeological Society was founded in 1843, Pettigrew became its founding treasurer. After his wife's death in 1854, he retired from medicine, and focused entirely on his antiquarian interests. He died in 1865 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery, London.

References

  1. ↑ Peck, William H. (1998). "Mummies of Ancient Egypt". In Aidan, Eve Cockburn; Reyman, Theodore A. Mummies, Disease and Ancient Culture. Cambridge University Press.
  2. ↑ Moshenska, Gabriel (2012). "Selected Correspondence from the Papers of Thomas Pettigrew (1791–1865), Surgeon and Antiquary". Journal of Open Archaeology Data. 1 (2). doi:10.5334/4f913ca0cbb89.
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