Cyril Aldred
(19 February 1914 – 23 June 1991) was an English
Egyptologist
Egyptology (from ''Egypt'' and Greek , '' -logia''; ar, علم المصريات) is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, architecture and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious ...
,
art historian, and author.
Early life
Cyril Aldred was born in
Fulham
Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswo ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, the son of Frederick Aldred and Lilian Ethel Underwood, and the sixth of seven children.
Aldred attended
Sloane School, in Chelsea, and studied English at
King's College London, and then art history at the
Courtauld Institute of Art. While a student, he met
Howard Carter
Howard Carter (9 May 18742 March 1939) was a British archaeologist and Egyptologist who discovered the intact tomb of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Tutankhamun in November 1922, the best-preserved pharaonic tomb ever found in the Valley of the ...
, the archaeologist who discovered the intact tomb of
Tutankhamen
Tutankhamun (, egy, twt-ꜥnḫ-jmn), Egyptological pronunciation Tutankhamen () (), sometimes referred to as King Tut, was an Egyptian pharaoh who was the last of his royal family to rule during the end of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ruled ...
. Carter invited Aldred to work with him in Egypt, but Aldred instead pursued a university education. He graduated from the Courtauld Institute in 1936.
Career
In 1937, he became an assistant curator at the
Royal Scottish Museum, in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, where he worked for the remainder of his professional life, rising to become Keeper of Art & Archaeology (1961–74). Aldred was appointed the Hon. Editor of the Scottish Anthropologica