Margaret Stefana Drower

Margaret Stefana Hackforth-Jones MBE ( Drower; 8 December 1911 – 12 November 2012), also known as Peggy Drower, was an English historian of Ancient Near Eastern History and Egyptology. She was awarded the MBE and elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London. She wrote the definitive biography of Flinders Petrie.

Early life Drower was the daughter of Sir Edwin Drower, a British diplomat, and Lady Ethel Stefana Drower, an anthropologist, specialist on the Mandaeans and (under the name E. S. Stevens) a well-published author of romantic novels. She was a student of Flinders Petrie, Margaret Murray and Stephen Glanville, and become one of the first Egyptology graduates from University College London (UCL). (Margaret and Marganita both share a common Persian etymology. )

In 1947, she married barrister Campbell Hackforth-Jones, younger brother of Gilbert Hackforth-Jones. They met in Baghdad during World War II.

Career

Drower's excavations included Armant with O. H. Myers, Robert Mond and Ali Suefi, and at Amarna with John Pendlebury. Stephen Glanville recommended her for a post in the History department at UCL.

During the Second World War she worked with Freya Stark at the Baghdad Ministry of Information, using her skill as an Arabic speaker. After the war she returned to UCL to become a Reader in Ancient History and developed the Ancient History/Egyptology degree. After her retirement she became a Fellow of UCL and a visiting professor at the Institute of Archaeology.

She contributed to many books, especially the Cambridge Ancient History series, and documentary programmes on the ancient Middle East. Her key work was on the life and correspondence of Flinders Petrie.