#emmabandrews

“A large plateau in front had been cleared and on that was a rude couch on which was Mrs. Sedgwick with books and papers, and inside the tomb were Miss Benson and Miss Gourlay busy with their tracings. It had been a beautiful tomb - and colours and designs still bright and distinct. These private tombs, with their walls covered with descriptions of almost every phase of the life of the deceased, are real revelations of that far away past, of its manners and life. There was one pretty scene of the Scribe seated on his chair in his garden, with some dancing girls with their musical instruments before him, on his knee was a little princess, her hands full of flowers, her crown upon her head and all her titles written above it; behind the chair; was her governess with her fan, and some flowers, and the whole scene was described as “making a pleasant day for the young princess.”

Miss Janet Gourlay & Miss Maggie Benson, 1906

The #mummies of louiya and Touiyu were lying in their coffins. Originally each mummy was enclosed in three coffins; the inner one holding the body. Evidently the robber had taken the inner coffins out and then had taken off their lids, though he did not take the bodies out of their coffins, but contented himself with stripping off the mummy-cloth in which they were wrapped. The stripping was done by scratching off the cloth with his nails, seeking only the gold ornaments or jewels. At least that seems to have been the manner of robbing the bodies, as we found in both coffins, on either side of the bodies, great quantities of mummy-cloth torn into small bits. Among the shreds were found numerous valuable religions symbols, several scarabs, and various objects of interest and beauty. In lifting the body of louiya from his coffin, we found a necklace of large beads made of gold and of lapis lazuli, strung on a strong thread, which the robber had evidently broken when scratching off the mummy-cloth, causing the beads to fall behind the mummy’s neck.

The robber had also overlooked a gold plate about the size of the palm of a man's hand, which had been inserted by the embalmer to conceal the incision he had made in extracting the dead man's heart for special mummification.

Photo: Andreas F. Voegelin

Emma writes, "On Wednesday evening we went to see Irving and Ellen Terry in the “Dead Heart”, a weak drama of the French Revolution times. Irving was especially weak in it, and only Miss Terry saved the play from utter flatness."

Sir Henry Irving (1838 - 1905) Manager and Lead Actor at the Lyceum Theater Company in London

View the Digital Henry Irving Archive here.

Dame Ellen Terry (1847 - 1928) the leading Shakespearean actress of her time and leading lady in Irving's theater company for more than two decades.

Ellen Terry writes in 'The Story of My Life: Recollections and Reflections' (1908):

"Here I was in the very noonday of life, fresh from Lady Macbeth and still young enough to play Rosalind, suddenly called upon to play a rather uninteresting mother in "The Dead Heart." However, my son Teddy made his first appearance in it, and had such a big success that I soon forgot that for me the play was rather "small beer."

It had been done before, of course, by Benjamin Webster and George Vining. Henry engaged Bancroft for the Abbé, a part of quite as much importance as his own. It was only a melodrama, but Henry could always invest a melodrama with life, beauty, interest, mystery, by his methods of production.

Thomas Cook's Nile Tours in Emma's diary:

"A cool wind was blowing, but an intense sun shining, against whose too ardent rays we had protected ourselves with veils, parasols and puggarees and blue glasses."

late 19th century tourists in desert garb at the Pyramids of Giza.

"Just home from dining with Mrs. Metcalfe. Not many people at Shepheards - and how dreary it looked - and how thankful we were to get home. Spent the morning shopping - and to the races in the afternoon - where we were almost frozen - and again glad to get home. Dr. and Mrs. Campbell called."

A Shepheard's Hotel Receipt for a stay from March 28 - 31 1904

The guests were a Mr & Mrs Morse (not mentioned in Emma's diaries).

"(We) met all our nice people and established in time for tea in our charming appartment here."

Staff photo - Shepheards Hotel, Cairo 1904-1905 Season

luggage label