Reginald Stuart Poole (27 January 1832 – 8 February 1895), known as Stuart Poole, was an English archaeologist, numismatist and Orientalist.[1] Poole was from a famous Orientalist family; his mother Sophia Lane Poole, his uncle Edward William Lane and his nephew Stanley Lane-Poole were all famous for their work in this field. His other uncle was Richard James Lane, a distinguished Victorian lithographer and engraver.

Life

Born in London, Poole was the son of the Rev. Edward Poole, a well-known bibliophile. His parents became estranged during his early childhood, and his mother, Sophia Lane Poole, took her sons to Egypt to live with her brother, the Orientalist Edward William Lane. During their seven-year residence in Cairo from 1842 to 1849, Lane Poole wrote The Englishwoman in Egypt, while her son was imbibing an early taste for Egyptian antiquities.

In 1852 he became an assistant in the British Museum and was assigned to the Department of Coins and Medals, of which in 1870 he became keeper. In that capacity he worked as a writer, teacher, and administrator. He was largely responsible for founding the Egypt Exploration Fund in 1882 and for starting the Society of English Medallists in 1884.[2] He was Yates Professor of Archaeology at University College, London from 1889,[1] and also a lecturer at the Royal Academy. In 1883 he received an honorary degree from Cambridge University.[3] He received the Medal of the Royal Numismatic Society in 1892.[4]

On 6 August 1861, he had married Eliza Christina Forlonge, daughter of William Forlonge, with whom he had four children, including Sir Reginald Ward Poole.[5]

Poole retired in 1893 and died in 1895.

Works

Some of Poole's best work was done in his articles for the 9th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, on Egypt, Hieroglyphics and Numismatics; he also wrote for Smith's Dictionary of the Bible and published volumes dealing with his special subjects.

Poole was one of the strong defenders in England of the work of Champollion when he was criticized harshly by Sir George Lewis even as late as 1862. In reply to Lewis critique, Poole defended Champollion's method describing it as "the method of interpreting Hieroglyphics originated by Dr. Young and developed by Champollion".[6]

Selected publications

[NC = Numismatic Chronicle]

Obituaries

References

Wikisource has original works by or about:
Reginald Stuart Poole
  1. ^ a b Lee, Sidney, ed. (1896). "Poole, Reginald Stuart" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 46. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 101–103.
  2. ^ P. Attwood, 'The Society of the Medallists: a nineteenth-century forerunner of the British Art Medal Society', The Medal, 4 (1983), 4–11
  3. ^ "Poole, Reginald Stuart (PL883RS)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  4. ^ "Medallists of the Royal Numismatic Society". The Royal Numismatic Society. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
  5. ^ Caygill, M. L. "Poole, (Reginald) Stuart (1832–1895)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/22520. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  6. ^ Poole 1864, pp. 471–482.
  7. ^ "Cairo, Sinai, Jerusalem, and The Pyramids of Egypt: A Series of Sixty Photographic Views. With Descriptions by...Poole..." Getty Villa. Retrieved 13 January 2018.

External links

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