Francis Vyvyan Jago Arundell was an English antiquarian, a member of the Anglican clergy and an avid traveler of the worlds often untraveled by fellow Europeans. He was born during the month of July in 1780 at Launceston, Cornwall, England and was the son of a solicitor and a surgeon’s daughter. Thomas Jago and his wife Catherine sent their only child to be educated at Liskeard Grammar School and he later attended Exeter College in Oxford where in 1809, Arundell received his Master’s degree. Shortly after this, Arundell was ordained within the Church of England. In his writings Arundell claims to have always been fond of antiquarian study, but initially his career dives into the history of Cornwall itself. He begins to enjoy this area of concentration and for many years he gathers an immense amount of information regarding the area in which he was born. He is elected a “Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London” in 1811, though he is later booted out towards the end of his life in 1845 for being nearly twenty years behind in his subscription. In 1816, Arundell takes the hand of Anna Maria in marriage. She is the daughter of Issac Morier, the consul general in Constantinople and sister of James Morier, author of the work Hajji Baba.

In 1822, Arundell became the chaplain to the British Factory at Smyrna where he would remain for the following fourteen years. While living in Smyrna, he collected an impressive amount of artifacts, most of which were dated coins and manuscripts. Upon returning home to England, Arundell sold the coins to the British Museum. He began to travel more during this time and decided to take a tour of Asia Minor. From March to September of 1826, Arundell and a group of companions went on something of a pilgrimage to the seven churches of Asia and into Pisidia. He created a narrative of his journey which was issued in 1828 and received a positive reaction. With this, in 1833 Arundell went on yet another excursion, this time, a thousand-mile trek through districts that had not yet been discussed at length by other European (especially British) travelers. He did a study of the ruins at Antioch in Pisidia and later two volumes describing his adventures were published in 1834. He ventured through Palestine from 1835-1836 but no account of his travels there was ever published. When he returned to England he helped to complete the history of Cornwall with his brothers at Lysons. He died on December 5th, 1846 at Landulph. (Biography written by Zoey Guarino, December 2013).

 

Francis Vyvyan Jago Arundell’s book, Discoveries in Asia Minor, Including a Description of the Ruins of Several Ancient Cities, Especially Anitoch of Pisidia, is available online through Google books. Click here to read.

 

Access Arundell’s itinerary here.

 

To read more about Francis Vyvyan Jago Arundell, please read Zoey Guarino’s essay, which can be found here.