Lunchtime talk: How Egypt came to Norfolk with Faye Kalloniatis

During the late C19, Jeremiah James Colman and his family travelled to Egypt to be with his ailing son, Alan, who had gone there because of his poor health. The Colmans spent several weeks in Giza delighting in the culture and exploring the sites. They then hired a dahabeah – a luxury boat – to sail along the Nile to Luxor, and while there, they purchased over 200 antiquities. But soon after, Alan’s condition deteriorated and he died. The family then returned to Norwich, where two of Alan’s sisters, Helen and Ethel, commemorated his life by commissioning a pleasure wherry to be built. This wherry – a memorial to Alan and a fond reminder of Egypt – was named Hathor after the dahabeah in which the Colmans had sailed along the Nile; and it was lavishly decorated with Egyptian motifs.
This illustrated talk looks at these events – it follows the Colmans on their journey through Egypt; it tells the story the Egyptian-themed pleasure wherry, Hathor, which to this day continues to sail along the Broads; and it explores the history of some of the exceptional objects which the Colmans purchased in Egypt and later donated to the Norwich Castle Museum.

Image: The Colmans in Egypt in 1897