William Tyssen-Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of Hackney

Lord Amherst of Hackney.

William Amhurst Tyssen-Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of Hackney DL, JP (25 April 1835 – 16 January 1909) was a British Conservative Member of Parliament and collector of books and works of art.

Background and education

Born William Amhurst Daniel-Tyssen, he was the eldest son of William George Daniel-Tyssen, High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1843, who was the son of William George Daniel, of Foley House, near Maidstone, Kent, High Sheriff of Kent in 1825, and his wife Amelia Amherst, the daughter of Captain John Amherst and Mary Tyssen, heiress of Foulden Hall, Norfolk. Amherst's mother was Mary, daughter of Andrew Fountaine, of Narford Hall, Norfolk. In 1852, he and his father assumed by Royal licence the surname of Tyssen-Amhurst. However, in 1877 he again changed it, to Tyssen-Amherst, also by Royal licence. Tyssen-Amherst was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford.

Political career

In 1880, he was elected to Parliament for West Norfolk, a seat he held until 1885, and then represented South West Norfolk until 1892. The latter year he was raised to the peerage as Baron Amherst of Hackney, in the County of London, with remainder, in default of male issue, to his eldest daughter Mary and her issue male. Apart from his parliamentary career Tyssen-Amherst also served as High Sheriff of Norfolk in 1866 and as Deputy Lieutenant of Middlesex and was a Justice of the Peace for Norfolk, Middlesex and Westminster.

Collector

Tyssen-Amherst is chiefly remembered as a collector of books, manuscripts, antique furniture and other works of art.[1] He became famous for his Egyptian collection. In his country home, Didlington Hall, he built a museum for his rapidly growing Egyptian collection. In 1906, he was forced to sell a large portion of his collection after discovering that his estate and certain trust funds had been entirely dissipated at the hands of an untrustworthy solicitor, Charles Cheston, under whose management they had been placed. He lived only six weeks following the first Sotheby's auction from this collection.[2]

His name is noted at the Carter gallery display of Swaffham Museum in Norfolk, suggesting that Tyssen-Amherst’s collection of ancient papyri and Egyptian figures was seen by a young Howard Carter. The Museum records reveal that in 1882 he exhibited six "life size Egyptian figures" at Swaffham assembly rooms. A copy of the catalogue describes the figures he exhibited which included a figure of a Bedouin chief. He also exhibited a Thutmose III brick circa 1330bc, excavated from the banks of the Nile.[3][4] Amherst's collection included the lower section, of a 20th Dynasty tomb robbery papyri otherwise described as the Leopold II and Amherst Papyrus, which is in the possession of the Morgan Library & Museum, New York.[5]

Family

Lord Amherst of Hackney married Margaret Susan, only child of Admiral Robert Mitford, in 1856. Susan Mitford was a lineal descendant of politician Robert Mitford and Philadelphia Wharton,first cousin (once removed) of poet and journalist John Mitford, third cousin (three times removed) of both English Attorney General Lord Redesdale and William Mitford, a sixth cousin (twice removed) to the Mitford family's "Mitford Sisters", and a distant cousin of author Mary Russell Mitford. They had seven daughters:

Lord Amherst died in London, in January 1909, aged 73, and was succeeded in the barony according to the special remainder by his eldest daughter Mary.

He was the great-grandfather of American heir William Amherst Vanderbilt Cecil, operator of the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ B. P. Grenfell and A. S. Hunt, The Amherst Papyri, being an account of the Greek Papyri in the collection of Lord Amherst of Hackney at Didlington Hall, Norfolk I (London 1900), pp. 41-43.
  2. ↑ "Lord Amherst Dead", The New York Times, 18 January 1909, p 9. [ProQuest Historical Newspapers, New York Times (1857-Current file), Document ID 101861717]
  3. ↑ Swaffham Fine Art Exhibition Official Catalogue, J Jenvey Pricehon.sec 1882
  4. ↑ "Full text of "The Amherst papyri : being an account of the Egyptian papyri in the collection of the Right Hon. Lord Amherst of Hackney, F.S.A. at Didlington Hall, Norfolk"". archive.org.
  5. ↑ "Researchers' Guides to the Collections - Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts". 5 May 2014.
  6. ↑ "Saluki: The Desert Hound and the English Travelers Who Brought It to the West" , by Brian Patrick Duggan; McFarland; 2009, p. 12.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
George Bentinck and
William Bagge		 Member of Parliament for West Norfolk
1880–1885
With: with George Bentinck, to 1884
Clare Sewell Read, from 1884		 constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament for South West Norfolk
1885–1892 		Succeeded by
Sir Thomas Leigh Hare
Honorary titles
Preceded by
Unknown		 High Sheriff of Norfolk
1866–1867 		Succeeded by
Unknown
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baron Amherst of Hackney
1892–1909 		Succeeded by
Mary Rothes Margaret Cecil

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