Winifred Mabel Brunton née Newberry (6 May 1880 – 29 January 1959)
The excavation monograph for the two seasons of work between 1927 and 1929 at the multi-period site at Mostagedda, Egypt, has the lead excavator’s name as its author: Guy Brunton. In the introduction, however, he confesses that “without her skill and untiring energy this volume would have had only a very small proportion of its value as a record”. That woman was his wife, Winifred Brunton, credited as being “the hardest-working member of the party”.
Winifred Brunton is better known for her artwork, including watercolours of artifacts from the tomb of Tutankhamun, portraits of Kings and Queens of Ancient Egypt, and even giant murals in her grand and opulent family mansion at Prynnsberg, South Africa, where she retired with her husband. She was, however, also an experienced field archaeologist. She was trained under Margaret Murray at UCL for two years, along with her husband, before both joining Flinders Petrie’s British School of Archaeology in Egypt teams at Lahun, a site about 60 miles south of Cairo from 1912-1914. After the war she was on site every year for months at a time, sharing the hardships and excitement of life in the field. In these endeavours the Bruntons, like Hilda and Flinders Petrie, were equal partners, as Petrie himself noted in his introduction to Lahun II: “in 1921 the Lahun work was entirely in the hands of Mr. and Mrs. Brunton”.
Winnifred Brunton, 1880. This picture belongs to the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation from the Sothebys Auction Catalog. It is part of the Joburgpedia project.
In addition to being trained by and maintaining a close friendship with Margaret Murray, Winifred worked with many other Trowelblazers on these excavations, including the famous Gertrude Caton- Thompson and Hilda Petrie.
Post by Alice Stevenson
Edited by Brenna
Read More:
How Winifred saw her own work: http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/winiferbrunton.htm
Her connection with the Petrie Museum: http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/museums/2014/01/17/cairo-camden-and-the-cape/
Main Image: Winifred Brunton on the far right of this picture beside Guy Brunton. From Gertrude Caton-Thompson’s photograph album. Copyright Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, UCL.
I HAVE HAVE AN OIL PAINTING OF THE SPENCER- BRUNTON FAMILY INCLUDES GUY,VICTORIAN PERIOD IF YOU ARE INTERESTID? ENID SPENCER BRUNTON IS ALSO ON IT ——–N.BARRELL
Hello! We’d be very interested, and there is an archivist looking to get in touch as they are also very keen to know more! I will put you in touch! –
Brenna
That would be lovely! You can email us at teamtrowelblazers@gmail.com
have just read these notes on winifred brunton.i must confess i dont remember her but she was one of my godmothers-i was born in egypt. i knew her as auntie winnie and have a miniature of myself aged i guess about 3 yrs painted by her.i didnt know how much she was involved in the excavations. i have an alabaster bowl from badari given to me by guy as a 10th birthday present.so pleased to know so much more now.i am nearly 93 yrs old.
what an amazing connection! thanks so much for sharing!
I keep trying to remember more but left cairo in 1937 aged 10 for a boarding school in England which I did not enjoy. saw my parents and sister for summer holidays only.have discovered a Gezira sporting club diary of my mother’s 1930 which lists a number of social meetings with the bruntons in both cairo and London. so far no photos.
Just been shown this site. I was pleased to see my grandfather James Leslie Starkey in both the photos – the bottom photo is of him (with the stick) and Guy Brunton. I am continuously building on my scrapbook about him and his work and nice to add these two photos. I have recently completed a series of short articles on him which are posted on the UCL Filming Antiquity blog.