Thomas Pettigrew

Thomas Joseph Pettigrew (1791–1865), 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, Thomas Pettigrew took medical studies, first as assistant to his father, who was a naval surgeon, and later as an apprentice at the Borough Hospitals. He had a distinguished medical career, becoming surgeon to the Duke of Kent and the Duke of Sussex. Pettigrew played an active role in intellectual Georgian and Victorian society, corresponding regularly with many well known surgeons, physicians, scientists, writers and artists, such as John Coakley Lettsom, Astley Cooper, Michael Faraday, George Cruikshank and Charles Dickens.

... Pettigrew was appointed surgeon to the Charing Cross Hospital, upon its foundation, and lectured there upon anatomy, physiology, pathology, and the principles and practice of surgery. He resigned his post of senior surgeon in 1835, in consequence of a disagreement with the board of management, and for some years after his resignation he devoted himself to private practice, living in Savile Row. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1827, and in 1830 he took a leading part in the election of the Duke of Sussex to the office of president, on the retirement of Mr. Gilbert. He was a prominent freemason for many years before his death.

From the 1830s on, Pettigrew increasingly focused on private practice and his antiquarian interests. He developed an interest in Egyptian mummies, and in 1834 published History of Egyptian Mummies, which has been described as "the historic cornerstone of the study in English" (Peck 1998). During this time he became well known in London social circles for his private parties, at which he displayed scientific curiosities, such as Egyptian mummies and Yagan's head. The Duke of Hamilton was so impressed with Pettigrew's work that he engaged Pettigrew to mummify him after his death. The Duke of Hamilton died in August 1852, and in accordance with his wishes his body was mummified by Pettigrew and interred in a sarcophagus on his estate.

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