Mary Brodrick: pioneer Egyptologist

Mary (May) Brodrick (1858-1933) was a pioneer Egyptologist and a keen geographer. She spent most of her time in life in Egypt, associating with the likes of Cromer and Kitchener, and playing some part in British colonial rule. The culmination was when she travelled in state from Wadi Halfa to Khartoum and back, taking the salute at the annual Gordon Memorial Service. Mary has several important connections to Bloomsbury, including that of having been the first woman lecturer at the British Museum. Although she had initially studied Egyptology in Paris, she later became a fee-paying student at UCL residing at College Hall, which was then located in Byng Place. Moreover, her legacy lives on in Bloomsbury today: on her death she would bequeath part of her library to College Hall and her personal collection of antiquities to the Petrie Museum.

Rosalind Janssen is an Egyptologist who has a special interest in the History of Egyptology and has published widely on the subject.

The talk will include a Q&A session. Attendees are invited to view a display of items from the Senate House Library collections following the talk.

Please register via the Pascal Theatre Company website.

The event forms part of Pascal Theatre Company’s two-year heritage lottery project Women for Women: 19th century women in Bloomsbury. For more information on the project see Introduction and Women on the Pascal Theatre Company website.