Peggy Drower

MBE
Born
Margaret Stefana Drower

8 December 1911
Southampton, Hampshire, England
Died12 November 2012(2012-11-12) (aged 100)[1]
London, England
NationalityBritish
OccupationAcademic
SpouseCampbell Hackforth-Jones (m. 1947)
Parent(s)Sir Edwin and Lady Edith Drower
Academic background
Alma materUniversity College London
Academic work
DisciplineHistorian
Sub-disciplineAncient Near East
InstitutionsUniversity College London
Notable worksFlinders Petrie: A Life in Archaeology

Margaret Stefana Hackforth-Jones MBE (née Drower; 8 December 1911 – 12 November 2012), known as Peggy Dower, was an English historian of Ancient Near Eastern History and Egyptology.[2] She was awarded the MBE and elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.[3][4] She wrote the definitive biography of Flinders Petrie.[5]

Early life

Drower was the daughter of Sir Edwin Drower, a British diplomat, and Lady Ethel Stefana Drower, an anthropologist, specialist on the Mandaeans and (under the name E. S. Stevens) a well-published author of romantic novels. She was a student of Flinders Petrie, Margaret Murray and Stephen Glanville, and become one of the first Egyptology graduates from University College London (UCL).[3]

In 1947, she married barrister Campbell Hackforth-Jones, younger brother of Gilbert Hackforth-Jones.[6] They met in Baghdad during the war.[2]

Career

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Drower's excavations included Armant with O. H. Myers, Robert Mond and Ali Suefi, and at Amarna with John Pendlebury. Stephen Glanville recommended her for a post in the History department at UCL.

During the Second World War she worked with Freya Stark at the Baghdad Ministry of Information, using her skill as an Arabic speaker. After the war she returned to UCL to become a Reader in Ancient History and developed the Ancient History/Egyptology degree. After her retirement she became a Fellow of UCL and a visiting professor at the Institute of Archaeology.

She contributed to many books, especially the Cambridge Ancient History series, and documentary programmes on the ancient Middle East. Her key work was on the life and correspondence of Flinders Petrie.[3]

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ England and Wales, Death Index, 1989-2021
  2. ^ a b "Peggy Drower". The Times. 20 December 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  3. ^ a b c "Margaret Stefana Drower". University College London. 16 November 2012.
  4. ^ Drower, Margaret (2004). Letters from the desert: the correspondence of Flinders and Hilda Petrie. Warminster: Aris & Phillips. ISBN 0856687480.
  5. ^ Drower, Margaret S. (1995). Flinders Petrie a life in archaeology (2nd ed.). Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 9780299146238.
  6. ^ "Forthcoming Marriages". The Times. 8 October 1947. p. 7.
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