I was recently asked to write a short piece – based on my post The sad history of the Faculty Mummy – for the Scottish Egyptology society newsletter. I gratefully accepted, and took the opportunity to update the story a little by investigating what exactly Dr. Sandison discovered when he was “working on the histology of such remains”. With thanks to Egyptology Scotland for the inspiration to dig a little deeper [archeology pun]
The sad history of the Faculty Mummy
As published in Scottish Pharaonic: Newsletter of Egyptology Scotland, September 2020 Vol. 20 Issue 2
Once upon a time a man lived, died, and was mummified in ‘late period’ Egypt. We know little more about him – except that death was only the beginning of his story…
The Earl of Morton
In 1748 James Douglas, 14th Earl of Morton presented an Egyptian mummy to the Faculty of Advocates.[1] It is unclear why the Earl bestowed this gift but it was duly accepted by the Faculty and “set up in their Library”.[2]
The Advocates Library was never a repository for books alone. From earliest times Members of Faculty collected artworks and curios alongside books and manuscripts. The Mummy was probably resident in the Laigh Hall when Samuel Johnson toured the Library in August 1773, though (advocate and biographer) James Boswell failed to mention him.
In his Handbook to the Parliament House (1884) Faculty Treasurer James Balfour Paul makes passing yet poetic reference to:
“An old mummy…[who] slumbers in a dark corner as calmly as if it were in the tombs at Memphis” (p.78)
Pharaoh’s Daughter
During its time in the “dark corners” the Faculty Mummy suffered more indignities than an Egyptian gentleman should. From partial unwrapping, to bayonet target for the Members’ Rifle Corps! During this time too, the male Mummy became known as “Pharaoh’s Daughter”. He did have a standing invitation to the Faculty’s Annual Dinner where (we are told) there were songs and toasts to the health of the Pharaoh’s Daughter.
The Mummy nobody wants
Eventually it was decided the Faculty didn’t need an Egyptian Mummy anymore. He was offered to the Royal Scottish Museum in 1906 but after examination the poor Mummy was “found to be in a condition unsuitable for exhibition” [3]
In 1954 the Faculty tried again to rid itself of the unwanted artefact. Cyril Aldred – assistant keeper of Art and Ethnology at the Royal Scottish Museum – examined the Mummy and returned a brief though scathing report:
“The case is dilapidated beyond hope of recovery having lost its entire outer and inner surfaces: in addition the lid is missing… The mummy itself appears at one time to have been unwrapped and then re-wrapped, a cloth of modern type replacing the outer most wrappings. It is difficult to be certain of this, however, as the liberal coating of grime tends to obscure such niceties… If [the Faculty Mummy] is never seen again by mortal eye, I can assure you that neither science, scholarship nor aesthetics will suffer in consequence” [4]
Attempts were made to locate other museums willing to take him – none were found. ‘For sale’ ads in newspapers brought no takers. When the Faculty at last tried to throw the Mummy away, even the Council cleansing department refused to uplift on the grounds it was human remains – but remains which could not be buried without a death certificate!
In May 1958 The Scotsman published a piece entitled “Riddle of the mummy nobody wants”. The amusing article detailed the farcical trouble the Faculty was experiencing in its efforts to dispose of the artefact [5].
Subsequently, the story was picked up around the world and the Faculty began receiving letters. While some correspondents wrote with (un)helpful advice on the situation, many offered the Mummy a new home (with varying degrees of credibility).
One, according to the Clerk of Faculty, had “a much more respectable offer than the others.” [6] Dr AT Sandison, a lecturer and radiologist at Glasgow University’s Pathology Department, was keen to take the mummy off the Faculty’s hands. He had “been working on the histology of such remains” and would be willing to collect.[7] On the 18th June 1958 the Faculty accepted Dr Sandison’s offer and in August the Mummy left the Advocates Library for the last time.
The Sandison Collection
At the Forty-First meeting of the Scottish Society of the History of Medicine, Dr. Sandison read a paper entitled “A pathologist looks at Egyptian mummies”:
“I spent some time in the Middle East while serving in the R.A.M.C., partly at 63rd B.G.H. near Cairo and was able to visit not only the important sites at Gizeh, Memphis and Sakkarah, but also the wonderful collections in the Cairo Museum. After my return to civil life, I was reluctant to abandon all interest in Egyptology and decided that, as a pathologist in a University department, I might investigate histological structure of Egyptian mummies, this being a study in which laboratory medicine and Egyptology come together. Through the kindness of the curators of several Scottish museums, I was able to obtain samples of mummy tissues and began a series of studies which have not been without interest…” [8]
Dr. Sandison published various medical works on mummies. Articles such as “The eye in the Egyptian mummy”(1957) [9] and “Diseases in Ancient Egypt” (1980). [10] When he died his accumulated antiquities passed into the care of The Burrell Collection in Glasgow. When I contacted Senior Curator Simon R Eccles in 2008, he confirmed receipt of ‘The Sandison collection’ in 1982 – but had no information about the Faculty Mummy. He did tell me about two mummies they had in storage, neither with proper provenance… nor a head.
He described the headless artefacts as follows:
- One female; her wrappings in good condition, with decoration – like painted jewellery – around her neck and wrists
- The other male; in such bad condition he was little more than a skeleton…
I have a feeling that tatty auld bag of bones is the former Faculty Mummy.
So, there you have it. The sad history of the Faculty Mummy: shuffled from one dusty corner to another; prodded with pointed instruments; and now, (probably) headless and in storage. We should be thankful he’s not the sort of mummy who comes with a curse.
Footnotes:
[1] ‘The affair of Lord Morton’s Mummy’, Iain Gordon Brown, Egypt through the eyes of travellers, Starkey and Kholy (eds), 2002, p.95
[2] Minute Book of the Faculty of Advocates, volume 2, 1713-1750, The Stair Society, 1980, page 237-238
[3] Faculty Records, 14 June 1906
[4] Letter from Cyril Aldred to William Beattie, 13 July 1954, [Faculty of Advocates ‘Mummy file’]
[5] The Scotsman, 26th of May 1958, page 8
[6] Letter from AT Sandison to the Secretary, Faculty of Advocates, 27 May 1958 and a note (on a compliment slip) from RDI, 28 May 1958 [Faculty of Advocates ‘Mummy file’]
[7] ibid.
[8] Dr. A.T. Sandison, “A pathologist looks at Egyptian mummies”, The Scottish Society of the History of Medicine, REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS SESSION 1961-62, p. 8-14
[9] A.T. Sandison, “The eye in the Egyptian mummy”, Med Hist. 1957 Oct; 1(4): 336–339
[10] A.T. Sandison, “Diseases in Ancient Egypt” in Mummies, Disease, and Ancient Cultures, Cockburn (1980), p.29-44
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