Douglas E. Derry

British anatomist and anthropologist. He was born in Edmonton, Middlesex, 1 November 1874, son of David D., a banker, and Mary Elizabeth Erith. He studied medicine at Edinburgh University; ChB, 1903. In 1905 he was Assistant Professor of Anatomy at the Government School of Medicine, Cairo. In 1909 he became anthropologist to the Archaeological Survey of Nubia and he took part in the Wellcome expedition to Jebel Moya, 1911–1912. From 1910 he joined the Anatomy Department of University College London and later served in World War l. In 1919 he was appointed Professor of Anatomy at the School of Medicine, Cairo, later the Faculty of Medicine of the Egyptian University.

In 1923 he carried out the first examination of the mummy of Tutankhamun although his report was only published much later by Frank F. Leek (1903–1985), The Human Remains from the Tomb of Tutankhamun (1972). He carried out many anatomical examinations, notably on the so-called body of Akhenaten and the remains discovered by Guy Brunton (1878–1948) at Saqqara, by Walter B. Emery (1903–1971) at Saqqara, and by Anthony J. Arkell (1898–1980) at Khartoum. He greatly increased the anatomical collection at the School of Medicine from which he retired in 1952. FRCS, 1949.

Apart from his reports, he was also the author of an article on the dynastic race in Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 42 (1956), 80–85. He died at Radwinter near Saffron Walden, 20 February 1961.