THE British Museum has held a special service in memory of a leading archaeologist from Wembley.
Geoff Egan, 59, died last December after suffering a heart attack. He was an expert in the field of medieval and small finds and pioneered the link between archaeologists and 'mudlarks' - who search for artifacts on the banks of the River Thames.
Mudlarks were once dismissed by professional archaeologists who did not agree with their unscientific methods. But in 2005, Mr Egan published Toys, Trifles and Trinkets, with his colleague Hazel Forsyth, which looked at children's metal toys between about 1200 and 1800.
Mr Egan was born in Wembley, the only son of Daphne and Harold Egan, and grew up in Medway Gardens. His father was the government chemist between from 1970 and 1981.
He attended Harrow County School, in Harrow, before gaining a place at Cambridge University to study classics but he switched to archaeology and anthropology. But he never married and lived in Medway Gardens for the rest of his life.
Geoff's cousin, Graham Martin, addressed the service at the British Museum last Thursday (Mar 24) which was attended by more than 300 people.
He said: "I think, although very young, I witnessed the beginnings of his lifelong love affair with finds. Each time Geoff came to our house we would be off down to the Thames and Geoff would be carefully picking things from the mud. I soon came to realise the river meant totally different things to Geoff; he'd fallen in love, and this love was to last a lifetime."
Mr Egan, described as a "magpie", loved to collect artifacts and books which he stored at his Wembley home. His expertise were of great value and he was the finds advisor at the British Museum.
Mr Martin said: "Geoff had the ability to make what some might find dull into something interesting and exciting. This never left him and when we were together through the decades to come he still made me in awe of his love of finds. I became just as fascinated, yet without the knowledge, as he."
Stephen Games, who went to Harrow County school with Mr Egan and attended the celebration of his life, paid tribute to his friend. He said: "After school we went our separate ways but about ten years ago I organised a reunion and we got to know each other again. At school he was very bright and academic. There was a clever group of boys who did Latin and Greek which he was in. In later years he was good company and very well liked by everyone."
And Claire Costin, a colleague of Mr Egan, added: "Geoff wasn’t just a brilliant academic with unique knowledge; he was warm, kind and had the most fantastically irreverent sense of humour. I’m not at all surprised at the numbers of people who turned up on Thursday. He was well loved and will be sorely missed by a great many people."
Mr Egan's book collection has now been donated to the British Museum so that others can benefit from his legacy for years to come.
