248 THE president's address. 



long before his death he contributed to our Journal a paper of 

 considerable historical interest. 



"We have also to record the death of Mr. Henry Andrew, who 

 for 22 years was one of the ''Proprietors" of our Institution; 

 also of Mr. Thomas Ooode, of Pondliu, St. Austell, who joined 

 our institution as long ago as 1838 : but neither of them contri- 

 buted any paper to our Journal, 



The death of such a distinguished man as Sir Gardner 

 Wilkinson, who for many years had been an honorary member 

 of this Institution, calls for some notice from me. He was son 

 of the Rev. J. "Wilkinson, of Hardendale, "Westmoreland, and of 

 Mary, daughter of Eichard Gardner, Esq., and was born in 1797. 

 Having been left an orphan when 8 years old, he was sent after 

 a few years to Harrow, to which school he became so attached, 

 that he afterwards bequeathed to it most of the collections he had 

 made in Egypt, except those he had previously given to the 

 British Museiim. "When he had finished his studies at Exeter 

 College, Oxford, he went to Italy, and there made the acquaint- 

 ance of Sir "William Gell, who persuaded him to devote himself 

 to Egyptian antiquities. He studied Hieroglyphics under Sir 

 W. Gell, and learnt drawing in the Museum at Naples, and thus 

 prepared he went to Egypt, and soon after began to give proof 

 of his talents, and at the age of 25 published his first work in 

 ''Burton's Excerpta Hieroglyphica." His writings on Egyptian 

 and other antiquities, which are very numerous, have gained for 

 him a world-wide celebrity. After Young and Champollion in 

 past times, and Dr. Samuel Birch of the present time, we owe 

 what we know of the religion, philosophy, manners and customs, 

 arts, sciences, and antiquities of the Egyptians, to Sir Gardner 

 "Wilkinson. It is a cimous fact that he should have been born 

 only two years after the discovery of the famous Eosetta stone, 

 the hieroglyphic inscription on which so attracted his attention, 

 and so excited his desire to know more of that language, that he 

 laboured in its study, and became one of the best authorities in 

 its interpretation. 



In 1839 he received the honour of knighthood, and in 1856 

 married Caroline Catherine, daughter of Henry Lucas, Esq. 

 After his 5th sojourn in Egypt, his health began to fail, and on 

 his return to England, he directed his attention to British 

 Anticj[uities, and wrote a series of papers for different learned 



