Regional objects are part of History of the World project

Jan 19 2010 by Tony Henderson, The Journal

Wearside and Durham

THE statuette of an Egyptian servant girl is one of the objects selected for the Wearside and County Durham list.

The carved wooden statue, from the Oriental Museum at Durham University, is a container for cosmetics.

It was placed in its owner’s tomb so that it could continue to be useful in the afterlife. Algernon Percy, 4th Duke of Northumberland, bought the statue for display at Alnwick Castle.

Other objects include:

Clanny type miner’s safety lamp. The Felling Pit disaster of 1812 led to research by scientists such as Dr William Reid Clanny into means of lighting coal mines.

Shipbuilder’s model of the SS Empire Liberty, built by J.L. Thompson and Sons in Sunderland in 1941 as the first of the British Liberty ships constructed quickly to counter losses to U-boats.

Stripy quilt from Killhope, The North of England Lead Mining Museum. Its maker, Hannah Peart, took it with her when she emigrated to the United States in 1854 to join her sweetheart, Joseph Graham from Weardale.

Watercolour of Maori chief by Lt Horatio Robley, from the Durham Light Infantry Museum & Durham Art Gallery.

The DLI were in New Zealand between 1864-66 to prevent the Maoris from restricting British expansion.