Post by Catsmate on Aug 11, 2019 10:55:37 GMT
An interesting character to encounter in Victorian Britain.
(Bio adapted and extended from wiki) Thomas Joseph Pettigrew (28 October 1791 – 23 November 1865), sometimes known as "Mummy" Pettigrew, was a surgeon and antiquarian who became an expert on Ancient Egyptian mummies. He became well known in London social circles for his private parties in which he unrolled and autopsied mummies for the entertainment of his guests.
Born in London in 1791, Pettigrew studied medicine, first assisting his father (a naval surgeon), and later as an apprentice at Borough Hospitals. In 1818 he was appointed surgeon to the new Charing Cross Hospital, where he additionally lectured in anatomy, physiology, pathology, and the principles and practice of surgery until he resigned in 1835, after a dispute of some sort with the hospital’s board of management.
Pettigrew himself became interested in Egypt in 1820s, when he helped Giovanni Belzoni stage an exhibition.
Pettigrew's medical career was interesting; a popular but relatively uninspired practitioner (a 'society doctor') himself he corresponded with the intelligentsia of Georgian and Victorian society, physicians, scientists, artists and writers from Faraday to Dickens.
Pettigrew became to the Duke of Kent and the Duke of Sussex. Interestingly he was also, from 1818 to 1834, li8brarian to the latter.
From the 1830s Pettigrew focussed on his lucrative private society practice and his antiquarian and Egyptological interests. In 1834 he published History of Egyptian Mummies and later (1843) with British Archaeological Association. He retired from medical practice in 1864 after the death of his wife.
One of the odder incidents in his later life was his mummification of Alexander Hamilton, the 10th Duke of Hamilton, after the latter's death in 1852. The duke had been fascinated by Pettigrew's work with Egyptian mummies and his mummified body was interred in a sarcophagus.
Game use.
Pettigrew could easily appear in a scenario set in the later Georgian, Regency or Victorian period in many possible roles.
He could be; a Mad Scientist, dabbling with Things Man Was Not Meant To Know; an innocent victim of of Osiran technology found in Egypt; a mastermind seeking to influence the course of the British Empire with a giant psionic amplifier in Cleopatra's Needle or some weird occult ritual; a useful contact in London Society who could open doors normally closed to brash interlopers; a minor diversion to time travellers seeking to experience Victorian London.
Comments? Ideas? Suggestions? Requests?
(Bio adapted and extended from wiki) Thomas Joseph Pettigrew (28 October 1791 – 23 November 1865), sometimes known as "Mummy" Pettigrew, was a surgeon and antiquarian who became an expert on Ancient Egyptian mummies. He became well known in London social circles for his private parties in which he unrolled and autopsied mummies for the entertainment of his guests.
- “Lord Londesborough at Home: A Mummy from Thebes to be unrolled at half-past Two”
- Yes “unwrapping” parties were a real thing. When a wealthy Briton travelled to Egypt they’d purchase an ancient wrapped corpse and bring it back. After their return the invitations would be sent out, for dinner and drinks first of course as the wactual unwrapping was somewhat noxious. Some of the unwrappings were public events, with invited or paying attendees.
- Pettigrew held his first unwrapping on 15 January
1834 in public at the Royal College of Surgeons. It was immensely
popular but controversial among his medical colleagues. His address was 3, Bolt Court, Fleet Street. He later moved to Saville Row where he maintained a house and surgery. - More details here and here.
Born in London in 1791, Pettigrew studied medicine, first assisting his father (a naval surgeon), and later as an apprentice at Borough Hospitals. In 1818 he was appointed surgeon to the new Charing Cross Hospital, where he additionally lectured in anatomy, physiology, pathology, and the principles and practice of surgery until he resigned in 1835, after a dispute of some sort with the hospital’s board of management.
- I’ve been unable to find the nature of this disagreement, it may have been connected with his Egyptological activities. Or something entirely different.
- Certainly for a Who scenario he could have been possessed, duplicated or replaced by something or come under the influence of alien/extra-dimensional artefact found in Egypt and developed unsavoury habits...
Pettigrew himself became interested in Egypt in 1820s, when he helped Giovanni Belzoni stage an exhibition.
- I’ve mentioned Belzoni here previously; a fascinating person, well worth dropping into a scenario set earlier in the century; a two metre tall former circus strongman (he could carry a tonne on his back), former seminarian and hydraulic engineer, turned Egyptologist, with a legendary fondness for explosives. He’d decided to go to Egypt to try to sell his engineering developments, was rebuffed and turned to exploration which resulted in the discoveries of many artifacts, including four tombs in the Valley of the Kings. He was also responsible for the gifting of “Cleopatra's Needle” to Britain, though he died before it arrived.
Pettigrew's medical career was interesting; a popular but relatively uninspired practitioner (a 'society doctor') himself he corresponded with the intelligentsia of Georgian and Victorian society, physicians, scientists, artists and writers from Faraday to Dickens.
- The latter might mention a strange encounter he had in Cardiff.
- Given that Pettigrew dabbled in galvanism, the attempt to animate tissue by electricity and in other electrical experimentation such as using electric shock to treat catalepsy.
- He also successfully grew plants from seeds and roots acquired in Thebes. Some of the wheat seeds had been sealed in a jar since the tomb was itself sealed, millennia earlier.
Pettigrew became to the Duke of Kent and the Duke of Sussex. Interestingly he was also, from 1818 to 1834, li8brarian to the latter.
- The 1st Duke of Sussex was Prince Augustus Frederick, the younger son of George III and later favourite uncle of Queen Victoria. The prince was a noted liberal, supporting reform of the parliamentary franchise, abolition of the slave trade and the removal of restrictions on Jews, dissenters and Catholics. He was Grand Master of British Freemasons, a supported of scientific experimentation and the Royal Society (of which he was president) and avidly interested in the occult.
- While Pettigrew published a catalogue of the Sussex library (the Bibliotheca Susseriana), many of the more outre books were omitted. They also disappeared before the sale of the library. What might have been there?
From the 1830s Pettigrew focussed on his lucrative private society practice and his antiquarian and Egyptological interests. In 1834 he published History of Egyptian Mummies and later (1843) with British Archaeological Association. He retired from medical practice in 1864 after the death of his wife.
One of the odder incidents in his later life was his mummification of Alexander Hamilton, the 10th Duke of Hamilton, after the latter's death in 1852. The duke had been fascinated by Pettigrew's work with Egyptian mummies and his mummified body was interred in a sarcophagus.
- And if you can't make a scenario out of the mummification of a prominent Victorian politician and aristocrat you just aren't trying...
Game use.
Pettigrew could easily appear in a scenario set in the later Georgian, Regency or Victorian period in many possible roles.
He could be; a Mad Scientist, dabbling with Things Man Was Not Meant To Know; an innocent victim of of Osiran technology found in Egypt; a mastermind seeking to influence the course of the British Empire with a giant psionic amplifier in Cleopatra's Needle or some weird occult ritual; a useful contact in London Society who could open doors normally closed to brash interlopers; a minor diversion to time travellers seeking to experience Victorian London.
Comments? Ideas? Suggestions? Requests?
Excellent. Of course the Paternoster Gang story Truth and Bones has an enterprising pair catering to the demand for mummies to unwrap with the aid of a quick-wrapping machine...