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Percy Edward Newberry
Born (1869-04-23)23 April 1869
Islington, London, England
Died 7 August 1949(1949-08-07) (aged 80)
Godalming, Surrey, England
Nationality British
Education King's College School,
King's College London
Occupation Egyptologist

Percy Edward Newberry (born April 23, 1869 – died August 7, 1949) was a famous British Egyptologist. He was a scientist who studied ancient Egypt. He helped discover many important things about this old civilization.

Discovering Ancient Egypt

Percy Newberry was born in London, England, on April 23, 1869. From a young age, he loved plants (this is called botany) and was also a great artist. He went to King's College School and King's College London. He also studied plants at Kew Gardens.

Starting His Career

In 1884, Percy Newberry started working for the Egypt Exploration Fund. This group was set up to explore ancient Egypt. There, he met many famous Egyptologists. These included Flinders Petrie and Amelia Edwards. One of them, F. L. Griffith, became his mentor, guiding him in his studies.

Newberry used his knowledge of plants to help with archaeological digs. He could identify old plant remains found during excavations. This helped scientists understand what life was like in ancient Egypt.

Working in Egypt

In 1890, Newberry traveled to Egypt. He went with Howard Carter, who later became very famous for finding Tutankhamun's tomb. Newberry had hired Carter as a trainee because he saw how talented Carter was as an artist.

Together, they worked on important excavations at places like Beni Hasan and El-Bersheh. Newberry led these digs from 1890 to 1894. He even wrote a two-volume book about the Beni Hasan site.

From 1895 to 1905, he continued to work on digs in the Theban necropolis. This was a large burial ground in ancient Egypt. In 1902, he joined the staff of the Cairo Museum.

Teaching and Research

Because of his amazing work in the field and his writings, Newberry became the first Professor of Egyptology at the University of Liverpool in 1906. He taught there until 1919. He also became a fellow at King's College, London.

Newberry was a big help to the team that discovered the Tomb of Tutankhamun. He was there on February 12, 1924, when the king's sarcophagus (a stone coffin) was opened. His special job was to study the plant specimens found inside the tomb. He wrote about these plants in Howard Carter's book about the tomb.

Later, Newberry explored the Gabal Elba region in Sudan. He also became a Professor of Ancient History and Archaeology at Cairo University from 1929 to 1933. He continued to work with the Egypt Exploration Society. He helped organize their work at Akhenaten's ancient capital city, Amarna, in the 1930s.

Newberry received many honors for his work. He was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1920. This was for his work during the First World War.

Personal Life

Percy Newberry married Essie Winifred Johnston in 1907. They did not have any children. He passed away on August 7, 1949, at his home in Godalming, England, when he was 80 years old.

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