Pridgin Teale

The bust is Thomas Pridgin Teale (1801 - 1867), a surgeon in Leeds in the early 19th century.

Why, you might ask, does his bust now reside in the Egyptology section of the Leeds City Museum? Because he was the surgeon who 'dissected' the Leeds Mummy. This was just after the Rosetta Stone had been decoded, and as a result, it was one of the first mummies examined in England for which it was possible to know exactly who the dead person was and what he did.

I need to check the dates, but I was recently at a conference at which someone was talking about a Pridgin Teale writing about the reform of education in, I think, the 1870s. I guess that must have been his son, though he was clearly a polymath. The educationalist was, interestingly, complaining that teachers were being paid by the exam results of their students, leading to dreadful forms of cheating and a very poor education all round. Plus ça change ...

And since this is a photography website, here is a photo of him.