Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge (July 27, – November 23, ) was an EnglishEgyptologist, Orientalist, and philologist who worked for the British Museum and published numerous works on the ancient Near East. Budge was was a strong proponent of liberal Christianity and was devoted to comparative religions. He is well known for translating The Egyptian Book of The Dead and analyzing many of the practices of Egyptian religion and language. Budge's works were widely read by the educated public and among those seeking comparative ethnological data, including James Frazer.
Under Budge's directorship, the British Museum came to hold arguably the best collection of Ancient Near East artifacts in the world, allowing the British and other Western publics to enjoy and learn from these significant civilizations that were distant in both time and space from their own lives, broadening their horizons and advancing our understanding that humankind can unite as one extended human family throughout the world.
Biography
Early life
E.A. Wallis Budge was born in Bodmin, Cornwall, England to Mary Ann Budge, a young woman whose father was a waiter in a Bodmin hotel. Budge'
Sir Ernest Wallis Budge in , a bromide print by Bassano Ltd.
© National Portrait Gallery London (NPG ),
by kind permission.
t first glance, the life of Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge (–) is like something out of Samuel Smiles's Self-Help: born and brought up in Bodmin, Cornwall, the child of a single mother, young Ernest left school at twelve, but through determination, genius and hard work became one of the leading Egyptologists of the age. This is all perfectly true. But it is rather misleading. For example, Budge himself, looking back, saw his path in life almost set out for him. "Love for the East and for the things of the East was born in me," he writes in his memoir, explaining that generations of his forbears had served in the East India Company (By Nile and Tigris I: 3). Moreover, his headmaster, who was a relative, gave his pupils the run of his amazing library, well stocked with the classics and various grammar books, leading the boy into a study of Hebrew. This same enlightened headmaster duly contacted the orientalist Charles Seager () for guidance in his studies, and the boy furthered his interests under Seager's supervision for several years, until
Egyptology at Christ’s was made possible by a generous benefaction in the will of Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge (27th July – 23rd November ), who was himself one of the most prominent Egyptologists of his generation. Budge matriculated at Christ’s in , before joining the staff of the British Museum in and ultimately attaining the post of Keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities (). During an exceptionally long and productive career, Budge carried out multiple trips to Egypt to collect artefacts for the British Museum, and also published a vast number of books, including a particularly well-known edition of the Book of the Dead in four volumes. On his death, Budge left funds both to Christ’s College, Cambridge and University College, Oxford, to endow Fellowships in Egyptology in honour of his wife, Dora Helen Emerson, thereby ensuring that the work he held so dear would be able to carry on.
In remembering Budge, it is important to acknowledge that he was a man of his time and the standards to which he operated would not be acceptable in Egyptology today. In particular, Budge’s removal of valuable material culture from Egypt would be illegal under modern laws, and li
E.A. Wallis Budge life and biography
Under Budge's directorship, the British Museum came to hold arguably the best collection of Ancient Near East artifacts in the world, allowing the British and other Western publics to enjoy and learn from these significant civilizations that were distant in both time and space from their own lives, broadening their horizons and advancing our understanding that humankind can unite as one extended human family throughout the world.
Early life
E.A. Wallis Budgewas born in Bodmin, Cornwall, England to Mary Ann Budge, a young woman whose father was a waiter in a Bodmin hotel. Budge's father has nev
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