Katharine Woolley

Katharine Elizabeth, Lady Woolley (née Menke; June 1888 – 8 November 1945) was a British military nurse and archaeologist who worked principally at the Mesopotamian site of Ur. She was married to archaeologist Leonard Woolley.

Personal life

Early life Katharine Menke was born in Birmingham, England in June 1888 to German parents. Her father was Carl Menke, a Consul for Germany. She studied Modern History at Somerville College in Oxford, but did not complete her education there due to health problems.

First husband: Bertram Keeling On 3 March 1919, she married Lieutenant Colonel Bertram Keeling, the Director-General of the Survey of Egypt and the President of the Cotton Research Board

Second husband: Leonard Woolley Members of the third season's expedition, 1924–25. Left to right: probably J. Linnell, Katherine Keeling (later Woolley), Leonard Wooley, and Father Leon Legrain, the expedition epigrapher and curator and curator of the Babylonian section at the University of Pennsylvania Museum. Excavating grave material, 1928–29. In center foreground, Katherine and Leonard Woolley. Expedition house and staff, 1928–29. Max Mallowan (third from left), Hamoudi, Leonard Woolley, Katherine Woolley, Father Eric R. Burrows.

She met her second husband, Leonard Woolley working as a field assistant at the archaeological excavations at Ur in 1924. The following season, in 1925, Woolley offered Katharine an official position as an illustrator for the excavation. She remained a volunteer until 1926, when she began receiving a salary for her work. Her drawings were used to publicize the discoveries to donors as well as the public. In addition, she assisted with the reconstruction of various objects exhumed from the site. Most notably, she helped with the restoration of Queen Puabi's headdress. It now resides in the Penn Museum. The famous theory put forth by Leonard Woolley that the massacred attendants at the "Royal Cemetery of Ur" committed mass suicide by poisoning is said to have been a suggestion of Katharine, though death by poisoning has been since debunked.

Reputation among contemporaries Woolley was described as "demanding", "manipulative" and "dangerous" by those who knew her. with her drive and skills of organization making her extremely competent in a male-dominated discipline.

Supposedly, Leonard Woolley's biographer referred to Katharine as "demanding," "ruthless" and calculating."

Gertrude Bell Gertrude Bell was a renowned and highly influential archaeologist in the Middle East. Gertrude is said to have called Katharine "dangerous"

Agatha Christie Woolley was the inspiration for the murder victim Louise Leidner in the novel Murder in Mesopotamia by Agatha Christie, published in 1936. The novel has been described as "a study of the persona of Katharine Woolley." Max Mallowan claimed that "Katharine did not recognize certain traits which might have been taken as applicable to herself, and took no umbrage", though in a 2012 lecture at the British Museum Henrietta McCall said that Katharine was aware Leidner was based on her and apparently enjoyed the notoriety, despite the character's portrayal as difficult.

Max Mallowan Archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan initially appeared to have a civil relationship with Katharine. In 1926, Mallowan helped build an extension to the expedition house at Ur to include a women's restroom for her use. He likewise referred to her as "poisonous" with a "dominating and powerful personality."

While Agatha (Mallowan's wife) and Katharine were good friends, it is said that their friendship subsided after Mallowan and Agatha married,

During World War II, her husband Leonard Woolley worked with Winston Churchill to monitor Nazi looting of museums, galleries and archives; she assisted with this work.

In popular culture Apart from her connection with the Louise Leidner character in Murder in Mesopotamia, Katharine Woolley (played by Katherine Kingsley) appears as a character in the 2019 TV movie Agatha and the Curse of Ishtar.