John Gardner Wilkinson facts for kids
Sir John Gardner Wilkinson (born October 5, 1797 – died October 29, 1875) was an English explorer, writer, and a very important early expert on Ancient Egypt. He is often called "the Father of British Egyptology" because he was one of the first British scholars to study this ancient civilization in depth.
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Early Life and Learning
John Gardner Wilkinson was born in a place called Little Missenden in Buckinghamshire, England. His father was a clergyman who loved old things. John inherited some money when his parents passed away early.
He went to Harrow School in 1813 and then to Exeter College at Oxford in 1816. However, he didn't finish his degree. Because he wasn't feeling well, he decided to travel to Italy. In Italy in 1819, he met Sir William Gell, another expert on ancient history. This meeting inspired Wilkinson to start studying Egyptology, which is the study of ancient Egypt.
Exploring Ancient Egypt
Wilkinson first arrived in Egypt in October 1821 when he was 24 years old. He stayed there for 12 years without leaving! During this long visit, Wilkinson explored almost every known ancient Egyptian site. He was very skilled at drawing and copied many inscriptions and paintings. He also wrote down lots of notes about what he saw and learned.
Becoming a Famous Egyptologist
In 1833, Wilkinson returned to England because of his health. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1834, which is a very important group for scientists. After this, he published many books about his discoveries.
One of his most important books was Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians. It was first published in three parts in 1837. Later, Joseph Bonomi added illustrations to it. For the next 50 years, this book was considered the best guide to ancient Egyptian culture and history. Because of this amazing book, Wilkinson was made a knight in 1839. This honor made him the first truly famous British Egyptologist.
More Adventures and Discoveries
Sir John Gardner Wilkinson went back to Egypt in 1842. He wrote an article about the "Valley of the Natron Lakes" for a geography magazine. In the same year, he published an updated and bigger version of his earlier book, calling it Moslem Egypt and Thebes.
In 1844, Wilkinson traveled to other countries like Dalmatia, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. He wrote about his observations from these trips in a two-volume book published in 1848, called Dalmatia and Montenegro.
He visited Egypt a third time from 1848 to 1849. His last visit to Thebes was in 1855. After that, Wilkinson stayed in England. He spent time studying old things in Cornwall and also learned about zoology, which is the study of animals.
His Family and Lasting Impact
In 1856, when he was 59, he married Caroline Catherine Lucas. Lady Wilkinson helped edit her husband's writings. She also wrote several of her own books, with Weeds and Wildflowers (1858) being her most popular.
Wilkinson passed away in Llandovery in 1875. In 1864, he had given his collections and a detailed list of them to his cousin, Lady Georgiana Stanhope Lovell. She had married Sir John Harper Crewe at Calke Abbey. Wilkinson's wife was left without much money, but Queen Victoria gave her a special payment after Benjamin Disraeli asked her to.
Today, Wilkinson's important papers are kept at the Bodleian Library in Oxford. These papers are very valuable because they show what many Egyptian monuments looked like between 1821 and 1856. This was before many tourists visited and collected things. Many ancient sites have been damaged or lost since then, which makes Wilkinson's detailed work even more important for us to learn about the past. His library and some of his maps are at Calke Abbey.
