J. W. B. Barns

John Wintour Baldwin Barns (12 May 1912 – 23 February 1974) was a British Egyptologist, papyrologist, Anglican priest, and academic. From 1965 to 1974, he was Professor of Egyptology at the University of Oxford.

Early life and education Barns was born on 12 May 1912 in Bristol, England. Having won a scholarship, he was educated at Fairfield School, then a private school on Bristol. Though he had an interest in Egyptology from an early age, since the discover of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922, his father encouraged him to study classics. He then approached Battiscombe Gunn, the Professor of Egyptology at Oxford, to ask if he could study Egyptology as the second half of his degree; he was refused as Gunn thought it was too early in Barns' academic studies to move into the subject. He completed his Doctor of Philosophy (DPhil) degree in 1947.

Academic career In 1945, after the end of World War II, Barns returned to the University of Oxford having been appointed the Lady Wallis Budge Research Fellow in Egyptology at University College, Oxford. He worked with and was mentored by Battiscombe Gunn (the then Professor of Egyptology) for the next five years, until Gunn's death in 1950. He held the post until his sudden death in 1974.

Ordained ministry During the 1950s, Barns found himself more and more interested in theology. This led him to seek ordination, and he trained for Holy Orders at St Stephen's House, Oxford, an Anglo-Catholic theological college. He was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon in 1955 and as a priest in 1956.

Death Barns died suddenly on 23 February 1974. He was aged 61.

Personal life In 1954, Barns married Dorothy Eileen Constance Sturges. They did not have any children.

Selected works