Henry Perigal Borrell
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Henry Perigal Borrell (1795, London – 2 October 1851, Smyrna) was a British
numismatist A numismatist is a specialist, researcher, and/or well-informed collector of numismatics, numismatics/coins ("of coins"; from Late Latin , genitive of ). Numismatists can include collectors, specialist dealers, and scholar-researchers who use coi ...
. He was the son of John Henry Borrell (anglicised from Borel), a London clockmaker from
Couvet Couvet was a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Val-de-Travers (district), Val-de-Travers in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Canton of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel in Switzerland. On 1 January 2009, the former municipal ...
, and Kitty Borrell (née Howe). Having learned the numismatics trade in
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, he traveled to the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
and set up home and shop in
Smyrna Smyrna ( ; , or ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, Turkey. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna ...
as a trader, from 1818 right up until his death. Two years after his arrival, in 1820, he married Emelia Boddington in Smyrna. In the 1820s, he obtained an inscription from
Aphrodisias Aphrodisias (; ) was a Hellenistic Greek city in the historic Caria cultural region of western Asia Minor, today's Anatolia in Turkey. It is located near the modern village of Geyre, about east/inland from the coast of the Aegean Sea, and s ...
, a copy of which he sent to
August Boeckh August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Southern Hemisphere, August is the seasonal equivalent of February in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Northern Hemisphere, August ...
. In 1838 he met the
6th Duke of Devonshire William George Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire (21 May 1790 – 18 January 1858), styled Marquess of Hartington until 1811, was an English peer, courtier and Whig politician. Known as the "Bachelor Duke", he served as Lord Chamberlai ...
at Smyrna and sold him the
Chatsworth Head The Chatsworth Head is a slightly over-life-size bronze head dating to around 460 BCE which is now in the British Museum. Description The head was originally part of a complete statue, probably (judging by the shoulder-length curly hair) one of A ...
(found at
Tamassos Tamassos (Greek: Ταμασσός) or Tamasos (Greek: Τἀμασος) – names Latinized as Tamassus or Tamasus – was a city-kingdom in ancient Cyprus, one of the ten kingdoms of Cyprus. It was situated in the great central plain of the i ...
). Via the
Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the Kingdom of England, English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one ...
, Borrell also supplied coins to the
British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
. He also devoted much time and energy to discovering unpublished
ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
coins A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by ...
, with his results being presented in papers in the '' Revue Numismatique'', the
Numismatic Chronicle The Royal Numismatic Society (RNS) is a learned society and charity based in London, United Kingdom which promotes research into all branches of numismatics. Its patron was Queen Elizabeth II. Membership Foremost collectors and researchers, bo ...
(including articles in 1839 on "Coins in
Andeda Andeda was a town of ancient Pisidia and later of Pamphylia Pamphylia (; , ''Pamphylía'' ) was a region in the south of Anatolia, Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean to Mount Taurus (all in ...
in Pisida" and in 1841 "On the coins reading OKOKLIEŌN"), and a number of German numismatic periodicals. In 1836 he published at Paris a "Notice sur quelques médailles grecques des rois de Chypre" (Notice on some Greek medals of the
kings of Cyprus The Kingdom of Cyprus (; ) was a medieval kingdom of the Crusader states that existed between 1192 and 1489. Initially ruled as an independent Christian kingdom, it was established by the French House of Lusignan after the Third Crusade. It c ...
) in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
. He also became an associate member of the
Numismatic Society of London The Royal Numismatic Society (RNS) is a learned society and charity based in London, United Kingdom which promotes research into all branches of numismatics. Its patron was Queen Elizabeth II. Membership Foremost collectors and researchers, bo ...
on 28 November 1839, and remained so until his death. His coins, antiquities, and gems collection was sold after his death by Sotheby and Wilkinson of London in 1851, who also sold his numismatic library 2 years later, on 28 February 1853. Most of his many children remained in Smyrna, though Frederick Anthony Borrell (1836–1905) returned to London, marrying Laura Bithinia Maceroni there in 1857.ancestry.com
/ref> Henry had sent a notebook of more than 200 ancient Greek and other Eastern Mediterranean inscriptions to James Kennedy Baillie MRIA, Rector of Ardtrea (1793–1864) during his lifetime, and it still survives today.


Family

Henry Perigal Borrell had 6 siblings: Harriot Borrell, Elizabeth Borrell, Judith Catherine Borrell, Ann Magdalene Borrell
Maximilian John Borrell
and George Howe Borrell.


Descendants

Henry Perigal Borrell and his wife have a few notable descendants. *
Miles Malleson William Miles Malleson (25 May 1888 – 15 March 1969) was an English actor and dramatist, particularly remembered for his appearances in British comedy films of the 1930s to 1960s. Towards the end of his career, he also appeared in cameo roles ...
*
Junio Valerio Borghese Junio Valerio Scipione Ghezzo Marcantonio Maria Borghese (6 June 1906 – 26 August 1974), nicknamed The Black Prince, was an Italian Navy commander during the regime of Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party and a prominent hardline neo-fa ...


Notes


Other sources

*Gentleman's Magazine, 2nd ser., 39 (1853), 324 *Notice of his death in "Proceedings of the Numismatic Society for 24 June 1852", Numismatic Chronicle, 14 (1851–2) *List of honorary members in R. A. G. Carson and H. Pagan, A history of the Royal Numismatic Society, 1836–1986 (1986), 79 *F.Boase, Modern English biography: containing many thousand concise memoirs of persons who have died since the year 1850, 6 vols. (privately printed, Truro, 1892–1921); repr.(1965)
"Inscriptions of Aphrodisias Project"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Borrell, Henry Perigal 1795 births 1851 deaths English numismatists British expatriates in the Ottoman Empire