Reginald Stuart Poole

Reginald Stuart Poole (27 January 1832 – 8 February 1895) was an English archaeologist, numismatist and orientalist.

Life

Born in London, he 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 did work of the highest value, alike as a writer, teacher and administrator. In 1882 he was largely responsible for founding the Egypt Exploration Fund, and in 1884 for starting the Society of English Medallists. He was for some time professor of archaeology at University College, London; and also lecturer at the Royal Academy. In 1883 he received an honorary degree from Cambridge University.

The father of Sir Reginald Ward Poole, Professor Reginald Stuart 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".

References

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