On Sun, 2 Feb 2003, Lonely Furrow wrote:
> Can sks help, my daughter is studying Egyptology and is interested in Howard
> Carter (as she is hoping for a family link), does anyone know if a family
> tree has been complied and where I can look for it.
This excerpt from "Ancient Egypt Magazine" will help to get you started:
Ancient Egypt Magazine
Issue Four - November / December 2000
Howard Carter, Archaeologist and Egyptologist: a Personal View
In 1986 Audrey Carter, whose grandfather, Thomas, was cousin to Howard
Carter, the discoverer of the tomb of Tutankhamun, began her studies
as a student on the Manchester University Certificate in Egyptology.
Under the supervision of Dr Rosalie David, Course Director, Audrey
Carter produced her dissertation on the life of Howard Carter.
Exclusively for Ancient Egypt magazine, Audrey gives both an insight
into less well-known aspects of his life and her thoughts on having
such a famous relative.
As a child, my mother told me that I was related to Howard Carter who
found Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922. Although I visited Egypt in the
1960's, I did not think about going any deeper into the relationship,
or Egyptology, until 1986 when I began the Certificate course.
The whole project was a fascinating experience. My brother helped by
researching the family tree. We discovered that the Carter family came
from Swaffham, a thriving market town in Norfolk. Howard's
grandfather, Samuel John, was a gamekeeper on the estate of the Hamond
family, the lords of the manor of Swaffham. We visited the local
museum and whilst there, were part of a family reunion and met
relatives we had not known about before.
Howard's father, also called Samuel John, after his marriage to Martha
Joyce Sands, a local builder's daughter, eventually left Norfolk and
settled in London. His brother, James, carried on the family tradition
by becoming a gamekeeper. James met and married Margaret Metcalfe from
Bedale in Yorkshire and they moved to Well. It was their eldest son
Thomas who was my grandfather. My mother married Walter Carter - no
relation - in 1929.
Howard was the youngest of eleven children. He was born at 10, Rich
Terrace, Brompton, London, now demolished, on 9 May 1874. His father
was now a well-known artist, an RA, and Howard was to inherit and
develop these artistic skills under his tutelage.
Howard was a sickly child, being diagnosed a "bad herniary case". It
was decided that London was not the best place for him and he was sent
back to Swaffham to be brought up by his two unmarried aunts, Kate and
Fanny Carter. He was educated privately in Swaffham.
Howard's father came regularly to see him, as he had to fulfil
commissions from the local gentry. When the Lord of the Manor retired
as Master of the local foxhounds in 1883 the Prince of Wales suggested
a present of a painting of the Master and the huntsmen and Howard's
father did the painting which was given to the Master at Sandringham.
Another of his father's patrons was William Amherst Tyssen Amherst MP
of Didlington Hall near Swaffham. Howard accompanied his father to the
Hall to watch him paint, but when he got bored he spent time in the
Egyptian room looking at the collection Amherst had accumulated over
the years. It is very likely that this is where Howard's interest in
things Egyptian began. The Amhersts were to be the key to Howard's
entry into the world of Egyptology.
Howard, meanwhile, learned more about painting from two brothers and a
sister, earning sixpences and threepenny bits washing their
paintbrushes, or scraping their palettes. He also learned about animal
painting from the "menagerie" in the garden of the London home. At 15
he began to earn his living as a painter by doing water colours and
chalk portraits of, as he said, "parrots, cats and smelly lap dogs."
In the summer of 1891, Mr P F Newberry, who was working on a site at
Beni Hasan, realised he needed further assistance in inking-in the
mass of pencil drawings that had been made of the site. He knew the
Amhersts, who by now had been ennobled, and he stayed at the Hall. He
asked Lady Amherst if she knew of any young artists and she suggested
he contact Howard Carter at Swaffham. Howard was interviewed at the
Hall and shortly afterwards, accompanied by his father, went to the
British Museum to see Mr Francis Llewellyn Griffith and Newberry
there, where he was engaged as a trainee tracer. Next it was agreed by
the Egypt Exploration Fund Committee that he should accompany Newberry
to Egypt at a sum not exceeding œ50 and they worked together at Beni
Hasan and El-Bersheh until the end of 1891. Thus began, at the age of
17, Howard's relationship with Egypt which culminated in the finding
of Tutankhamun's tomb 1n 1922.
In 1892 Flinders Petrie asked that Howard be transferred to him at
Tell el-Amarna as he needed an artist to do drawings and to excavate.
The site was being excavated on behalf of Lord Amherst, who of course
knew Howard's abilities. Petrie left Howard to clear the temple site
where he found broken statues of the queen, torsos and chips from
them. Although Petrie did not think Howard would make a good
excavator, he later acknowledged in his autobiography that he had been
wrong.
Howard continued his development as an archaeologist when in autumn
1892 he was appointed draughtsman to the Archaeological Survey of the
Egyptian Exploration Fund and rejoined Newberry at Beni Hasan where he
did paintings of dogs, birds and other animals depicted in the ancient
wall paintings. He then joined Prof. Naville at Deir el-Bahri where he
spent six years drawing in the famous temple. He also learned to speak
colloquial Arabic that endeared him to his team of workers in later
years.
Gaston Maspero was Director-General of the Department of Antiquities
and in 1899 he was impressed enough by Howard's progress to appoint
him and James Quibell as part of a team of young archaeologists who
became Inspectors-in-Chief of five administrative districts. Howard
was in charge of the Monuments of Upper Egypt and Nubia with a
headquarters in Thebes. For the next three years he restored the
temples in western Thebes, Edfu and Kom Ombo. He installed electric
light at Abu Simbel and at six royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings.
In 1902 he supervised the systematic exploration of the floor of the
Valley on behalf of Theodore Davis. He was meticulous in his methods
and used a grid block system. The discoveries made included the Tombs
of Tuthmosis I and III. Howard learned all his archaeological
expertise in the field: he did not take a degree.
In 1903 Howard was transferred to the Inspectorate of Lower and Middle
Egypt with his HQ at Saqqara. In 1904 there occurred an incident which
was to badly effect his career. A party of Frenchmen, the worse for
drink, were demanding to go into the Serapeum although they had no
tickets. One of the head guards sent for Howard and one of the
visitors struck a guard. Howard remonstrated and was insulted by one
of the would-be visitors. He ordered his guards to protect themselves
and one of the French party was knocked down. The visitors lodged a
formal complaint against Howard on returning to Cairo and the French
Consul General demanded an apology. Howard refused, saying he had only
done his duty. Despite Maspero's pleas, the situation led to Howard's
enforced resignation. Maspero was upset and Petrie horrified. Out of a
job, Howard returned to painting the local scenery to earn a living.
Howard had an obstinate streak and thought himself in the right. He
did not take kindly to bureaucracy and this was to cause him trouble
during the excavation of the tomb of Tutankhamun. Sometimes his duties
led Howard to deal with robbers in the tombs and on one occasion, he
had to lower himself down on a rope for some distance to catch them.
1906 saw Howard working again for Davis, making drawings of objects in
the tomb of Yuya and Thuya. It was Davis who then found some artefacts
inscribed with Tutankhamun's name - sealed pottery jars, bundles of
linen, and floral collars. These proved to be funeral ceremony items.
This find convinced Howard of the existence of the tomb.
Gaston Maspero brought Lord Carnarvon and Howard together, when he
advised the inexperienced Earl that he should have the services of an
expert archaeologist for his excavations and suggested Howard. The two
men liked each other and the financial backing from his patron was to
help Howard work towards his dream of finding Tutankhamun's tomb. They
worked together from 1907, except during World War I, until
Carnarvon's death in 1923.
Over the first four seasons together they found various artefacts
which ultimately formed the Carnarvon Collection at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York. In 1915 Carnarvon was at last granted the
concession to dig in the Valley, as Davis had relinquished his
concession. Maspero was dead, and the acting Director General George
Daressy agreed it could be renewed annually until 1923. The two men
found the empty tomb of Amenhotep I, but the funeral equipment was
badly broken, and they pieced together 54 different vases.
Howard visited Highclere Castle during the summer to discuss the next
season's work, and in 1922 he was disappointed when Carnarvon said
that he could not fund another season as it was an expensive outlay
for not much return. Howard offered to try to fund it himself and the
Earl relented. He was to be repaid handsomely.
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