Life dates: 1835–1909. British Conservative Member of Parliament. Collector of artworks, antiquities and books.

Material acquired from Amherst's collection includes ancient Egyptian antiquities and Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets.

Archive sources:

• WA/HMM/CM/Sal/20/252 Sotheby's auction sale catalogue, Dec 1908-Mar 1909

• WA/HMM/CM/Sal/20/259 Sotheby's auction sale catalogue, Mar 1909

• WA/HMM/CM/Sal/20/497 Sotheby's auction sale catalogue, Jun 1921

• WA/HMM/CM/Sal/20/506 Sotheby's auction sale catalogue, Nov 1921

Tawfiq Cana'an توفيق كنعان Life dates: 1882-1964. Palestinian medical doctor, ethnographer and collector.

Amulets from his collection were acquired in 1930-31 by Peter Johnston-Saint on behalf of WHMM. See collections dossier WA/HMM/CM/Col/20 and the online article A symbol of a lost homeland by Yasmeen Abdel Majeed, 2020.

Biography

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawfiq_Canaan

WA/HMM archives

• WA/HMM/CM/Col/20 - Collections dossier. Includes summary of collection history and amulet registration numbers. Biographical note on Dr Canaan.

• WA/HMM/CO/Ear/457 - letter to Dr Kanaan dated 16 April 1913, requesting loan of charms and amulets for the Historical Medical Museum. Annotated 'No record in Loans Register'.

• WA/HMM/RP/Jst/B.6 - Peter Johnston-Saint's diary, 6 March 1930. Describes first meeting with Tawfiq Canaan in Jerusalem, and meeting Canaan's sister. (starting on page image 45)

• WA/HMM/CO/Sai/D.7 – letter to Dr Canaan from Peter Johnston-Saint 1944 (starting page image 119)

• WA/HMM/TR/Abc/C.4/1 - Transfer documentation. Includes 1984 gift agreement with University of Oxford, Pitt Rivers Museum (starting on page image 343). Gift to Pitt Rivers includes 290 amulets from the Canaan collection (page image 349)

Sources

• Nashef 2002

• al-Jubeh 2005

• Publications by Tawfiq Canaan held in Wellcome Collection’s library

Tags: private collector; Middle East

William Hewlett was born on 22/07/1898 at 77 Elder Street in the district of St Peter in Brighton to William Henry Hewlett and Minnie Emma Hewlett (nee Wells). William Henry Hewlett worked as a coach painter at a railway factory.

In 1931 William Hewlett was living at 15 Western Road, East Finchley (now in the London Borough of Haringey). He lived with Annie Letitia Hewlett (born 19/03/1901) and Arthur Victor Hewlett (born 27/04/1901, also in Brighton) who is likely William’s brother.

In 1939 they are still living together. William is working as a musician (instrumentalist) and Arthur is a L/Sgt in the Coldstream Guards. The 1921 census indicates that Arthur had been in the army since at least then.

Thus, William Hewlett’s connection to the Benin expedition of 1897 and the looted objects remains unclear. Arthur’s long term military service could suggest a family military connection, but William Henry Hewlett was working in a factory the year after the expedition so was unlikely to have been involved.

Sources:

1898 Register of Births

1901 Register of Births

1921 Census

1931 Hornsey Electoral Register

1939 England & Wales Register

Born July 12, 1869 to William Simpson Holden and Sarah Hane Ruchardson in Bolton, Lancashire and died on April 29, 1939 in Winchester, Hampshire. She married Thomas Harold Davies in 1902. They had two children: Rachael Jeanette “Netta” Debes Davies (1905-1984) and Denis Richardson Debes Davies (1907-2000).

Rachael “Netta”, married Maurice William Claye (1904-1986) in Stockport, Cheshire. Rachael and Maurice had two children, Jean R. Claye(b.1941) and Timothy JN Claye (b. 1946). Denis Richardson Debes Davies married Lesley Kathleen Kemmis-Betty (1904-1977). They had six children, Sheila R, Diana, Alan N, Kathleen M., John R., and Rosemary.

Wellcome purchased a set of gold weights (copper alloy weights to measure gold from Akan-speaking West Africa) from Rachel Debes-Davies in 1929. Fowler Museum Curatorial and Research Associate, Gassia Armenian, corresponded with her grandson, Alan Debes (from email with Mr. Alan Debes April 18, 2019)

In his correspondence with Armenian , Mr. Debes indicates that Rachael Davies, his paternal grandmother, “used the hyphenated surname Debes-Davies when it suited her.” She was married to Reverend Thomas Harold Davies, known as Debes in 1918, just after World War I. Mrs. Debes-Davies was the second wife of the Reverend, whose first wife had died during childbirth leaving him with a three-year-old daughter and a newborn son. Rachel, who dropped the “a” from her name, took excellent care of these two children. In time, they had two children, Rachael Jeanette Debes Davies (1905-1984) known as “Netta” and Denis Richardson Debes Davies (1907-2000).

According to Alan Debes, Denis’s son, Denis studied at Queen’s College, Oxford and received a degree in Chemistry, “having never had a Chemistry lesson in his life!” Netta went to school, as well. Her best friend was Lesley Kemmis Betty, who spent many vacations at the Rectory with the Debes-Davies family. Everyone was hoping that Denis and Lesley would marry, soon. Their hope came true and in April 1932, Denis and Lesley married. By that time Denis was promoted to the position of Manager in the Imperial Chemical Industries and he had adopted the family name of just Debes. The couple had six children, Sheila R., Diana L., Alan N. and Kathleen M (Alan and Kathleen were twins) John R. and Rosemary (John and Rosemary were twins).

To link the Debes-Davies family tree to the gold weights, it is important to take a step back and review the family tree of Lesley Kemmis Betty (Alan’s mother, Rachel’s daughter-in-law). Lesley was the daughter of William Rowland Kemmis Betty and Alice Melvill. Alice was born in The Cape, South Africa and brought up in a large family, in Johannesburg. There she met William, who had arrived from London as an orphan. They married in 1894 and had three children. One of them was Lesley, Alan’s mother. William was a self-taught mineralogist in the gold, copper and diamond mines of Johannesburg. The Kemmis Betty family returned to England in 1911 bringing with them money, jewels, Ashanti stools, Ashanti gold weights and other collectable items. William and Alice gifted the Ashanti gold weights to Reverend and Mrs. Rachael (by this time she had reverted to her name with an added “a”) Davies for their hospitality to Lesley during the school holidays. According to Alan Debes, Rachael, his paternal grandmother, “was not especially fond of them and needed the money.” At the same time, Mr. Debes remembers very well a pair of Ashanti stools “carved out of a single block of hardwood” in their home.

In her letters to Wellcome, Rachel mentions “my brother in law has left me for disposal about 400 brass gold ashanti weights” (letter dated February 20, 1929, Wellcome archives WA/HMM/CO/Chr/F.1:Box114)—this use of brother-in-law is quite confusing, as Kemmis Betty was Rachel’s son’s wife’s father (or said another way, Kemmis Betty was the father of Rachel’s daughter-in-law), but one can only assume that given the letter’s short length, Rachel was using this shorthand to easily refer to the complicated familial ties. According to the email exchange with Alan, Rachel received the weights from William and Alice Kemmis Betty as a thank you for caring for their daughter, Lesley Kemmis Betty, during school holidays. According to Alan Debes, Rachel, “was not especially fond of them and needed the money,” and she offered them for sale to Wellcome in 1929.

Wellcome Collection References:

WA/HMM/CO/Chr/F.1:Box 114

Edward Lovett (1852 – 1933) was born in Islington, United Kingdom. He worked as the chief cashier at the London branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland. He spent his spare time researching and collecting charms, amulets (thousands), dolls (500) and toys, in the neighborhoods of London and vicinities. After his retirement, he dedicated his life to Alpine plants, rock gardens and small alpine specimens grown in seashells, which he distributed to his friends as protective amulets.

He donated most of his collection to the Pitt-Rivers Museum. In addition, he did substantial donations to the Cuming Museum, London, V&A Museum of Childhood, the National Museum of Edinburgh. The Wellcome Trust purchased Lovett’s collection of charms for 60 British pounds in January of 1917.

In 2011, the Wellcome Collection organized an exhibition of Lovett’s collection of charms and amulets. Felicity Powell, the artist, curated the exhibition and presented over 1400 charms and amulets, along with her artworks

Sources:

Wellcome archives

Lovett Collection: WA/HMM/CM/Col/64:Box 365

E. Lovett WA/HMM/CO/Ear/532:Box 47

Lovett, Edward WA/HMM/CO/Chr/G.19:Box 124

Lovett, E R (the son): WA/HMM/CO/Chr/J.140:Box 149

Exhibition:

Charmed Life: The Solace of Objects, 6 October 2011—26 February 2012 at the Wellcome Trust.

(This exhibition is the result of artist Felicity Powell's engagement with a collection of 1400 amulets assembled by the Edwardian amateur folklorist Edward Lovett.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLwePPf5yrY

Publications:

Lovett, E. “Difficulties of a Folklore Collector” Folklore, Jun. 30, 1909, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Jun. 30, 1909), pp. 227-228

Lovett, Edward, English charms, amulets and mascots, Croydon : Printed at the Guardian offices, 1910

Lovett, Edward, The child's doll : its orign, legend and folk-lore, Evans, London, 1916(?)

Lovett, Edward, Magic in modern London, Croyden, London, 1925.

Lovett, Edward, Folk-lore & legend of the Surrey hills and of the Sussex downs forests, Caterham Valley : Printed at the Caterham printing works, 1928.

Lovett, Edward, The folk-lore of the horse. Croyden, London [date of publication not identified]

Lovett, Edward, The game of knuckle bones. Croyden, London [date of publication not identified]

Other: https://museumofwitchcraftandmagic.co.uk/news/lovett-collection-in-mwm/

http://england.prm.ox.ac.uk/englishness-Edward-Lovett.html

https://www.horniman.ac.uk/collections/browse-our-collections/authority/agent/identifier/agent-991

https://www.facebook.com/wellcomecollection/posts/the-wellcome-librarys-ross-macfarlane-writes-about-edward-lovetts-collection-of-/267840096591788/

Ross MacFarlane (2018) Magic in Modern London 1925 with Folklore & Legends of the Surrey Hills and of the Sussex Downs & Forests 1928, Folklore, 129:4, 429-431, DOI: 10.1080/0015587X.2018.1517960

Italian opera singer. Material acquired from Gorga's collection includes ancient Greco-Roman and Etruscan votive offerings ('donaria').

Archive sources:

• WA/HMM/CM/Col/47 collections dossier, 1912-32

• WA/HMM/CM/Env/6 invoice book, Apr-May 1936

• WA/HMM/CM/Env/8 invoice book, May-Aug 1936

May French was born in 1847 in rural Pennsylvania outside of Pittsburg. She traveled extensively in her youth, and received some holistic medical training from her mother. In 1870, she married Eli Lemon Sheldon, a lawyer and investment banker. The couple soon moved to London and created a large social network, often hosting salon-like gatherings at their home. Among the visitors to their home included Sir Henry Wellcome and the famous explorer Henry Morton Stanley. It seems as if these adventurers encouraged May’s first trip to eastern Africa in 1891. Through this trip, she fashioned herself as “Lady Stanley” or “Bebe Bwana” (White lady) and claimed the role as the first woman explorer in Africa. Soon after this trip, Eli Sheldon suddenly died. May lived with Nellie Butler. While no longer a hub for social circles, French-Sheldon maintained a middleclass life style, thanks to financial support from Wellcome and others, and kept herself in public view by giving lectures about her travels. As a solo female traveler, French-Sheldon also became a kind of spokeswoman for early feminist causes, advocating for women’s place in exploratory missions.

In 1903, William E. Stead, co-founder of the Congo Reform Association commissioned her to travel to Congo. Stead intended May to discover conditions in Congo that would undermine Belgian King Leopold II’s reputation. Stead’s plans backfired when Sheldon’s report presented a view sympathetic to King Leopold’s agenda and supporting colonialisms endeavors to “bring civilization” of the Congo. Letters from anti-colonial missionaries and others who witnessed French-Sheldon’s trip stated that she clearly had a curated experience, seeing only what colonial officials wanted her to see, and even denying an opportunity to venture of the beaten path, so to speak, and to witness some of the atrocities and mis-treatments that were so characteristic of King Leopold’s regime.

French-Sheldon's acclaim dwindled as she became older. But she did remain active and was later on staff at the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum. She died in 1936, just before her eighty-ninth birthday. Much of French-Sheldon's archives and collection was later dispersed by relatives of Nellie Butler—now in the collection of the British Museum (UK), the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (US), Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (Australia), Africa Museum (Belgium), and the Fowler Museum at UCLA. Her personal papers are kept at the Library of Congress (deposited by Ann Butler), the Wellcome Archives, and the Africa Museum[CSF2] [CSF3] .

Wellcome Collection References

WA/HMM/CO/Chr/H.13

WA/HMM/CO/Sai/A.28

WA/HMM/CM/Col/92

WF.M.I.PR.E48

WA.HSW.PH.J.2

WA.HSW.CO.Ind.A.6

WA/HMM/ST/Lat/A.78

References:

Boisseau, Tracey Jean. White Queen: May French-Sheldon and the Imperial Origins of American Feminist Identity. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004.

Burroughs, Robert. “The travelling apologist: May French Sheldon in the Congo Free State (1903–04)” Studies in Travel Writing 14, no. 2 (2010): 135-157, DOI:10.1080/13645141003747231

Marchal, Julies. E.D. Morel Contre Léopold II: L’histoire du Congo 1900-1910. Vol. 1. Paris: L’Harmattan, 1996. Pages: 303-310.

Newman, Louise Michele. White Women’s Rights: The Racial Origins of Feminism in the United States. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999 (Particularly chapter 4: “A Feminist Explores Africa: May French-Sheldon’s Subversion of Patriarchal Protection, pages 102-115)

Proprietor of The Queen's Head in Bristol that maintained a collection of objects.

In 1925, Charles J. S. Thompson exchanged letters with and acquired several objects from a “Mr. Iles” in Bristol. Iles recounted to Thompson that the posts in his collection were “brought home by a soldier from South Nigeria after an expedition.” (Thompson, April 15, 1925). Upon arrival in Bristol, Thompson remarked on the objects which were "laid out like a museum" and in beautiful condition. Iles further explained that he had traveled to Nigeria and Congo himself bringing back many objects. Isaac’s father had started the collection by weapons from sailors coming off the ships. (Thompson, May 4, 1925).

Thompson’s correspondence gives Iles’s address as “broad plain”-- a 1914 registry of Bristol businesses then provides Iles’s first name. (Kelly’s Directory, 884)

Sources:

Kelly's Directory of Bristol (Gloucestershire, 1914): 884 http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4/id/309339/rec/2 

Thompson. Charles J. S. [Letter to Henry S. Wellcome]April 15, 1925 and May 4, 1925. Wellcome Collection, WA/HMM/RP/Tho/15:Box7 

Wellcome Archives:

• Correspondence Between Thompson and Wellcome WA/HMM/RP/Tho/15:Box 7

• I. Iles correspondence WA/HMM/CO/Chr/J.102:Box 145

• I. Iles correspondence WA/HMM/CO/Chr/D.21:Box 98

• I. Iles correspondence WA/HMM/CO/Chr/B.7:Box 90

Lady Lillian Decima Moore-Guggisberg (11 December 1871-18 February 1964) was an English actress and singer, who, after a successful career on stage, married Sir Frederick Gordon Guggisberg in 1905. Brigadier-general Guggisberg was appointed Governor of the Gold Coast (Ghana) in 1919. As wife of the Governor, Lady Moore-Guggisberg was named the Honorary Exhibition Commissioner for the Gold Coast at the British Empire Exhibition. In 1925 Lady Decima Moore-Guggisberg transferred to Sir Henry Wellcome a permanent loan of a collection of objects from the Gold Coast pavilion from the British Empire Exhibition at Wembley. As the objects were considered a loan rather than a gift, the Wellcome Trust, as early as 1943, sought the permission of Lady Moore-Guggisberg to disperse the remaining objects from her loan. A portion of the loan had already been destroyed in air raids in 1941.

WA/HMM/TR/Pre/A.11