GAYER-ANDERSON, Robert Greville
Robert, known as 'John', with Thomas Gayer-Anderson were identical twin brothers, born in Ireland on 29 July 1881, sons of Robert Henry Anderson and his wife Mary née Morgan, who took the name Gayer-Anderson, Mary’s grandmother with whom she spent much of her childhood was Charlotte Gayer and it was partly the pride that the Anderson family felt for their romantic ancestor that led them to incorporate the name 'Gayer' by deed poll in August 1917. Robert qualified as a doctor at Guy’s Hospital, London and became an officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps, being commissioned in 1903 and was seconded to the Egyptian Army from 1907 until 1917, being mentioned in despatches and rising to the rank of Lewa (Major-General). After retirement in 1920, Robert served the Egyptian government in several senior capacities and, during his time in Egypt, collected Egyptian objects of significant importance which are preserved in the Gayer-Anderson Pasha Museum which is housed in his former home in Cairo. In 1942, Robert was forced by ill health to leave Egypt, when he gave the contents of the house to the Egyptian government and King Farouk gave him the title of Pasha. The author of 'Legends of the Bait al-Kretliya as told by Sheikh Sulaiman al-Kretli and put into English by R.G.'. In the summers, to avoid the Egyptian climate, Robert Gayer-Anderson joined his twin brother Thomas at his home at Little Hall, Market Place, Lavenham and where Robert died on 16 June 1945 and was buried at Lavenham. Little Hall, Market Place, Lavenham, Suffolk is now the headquarters of The Suffolk Preservation Society and houses many items from the twins' collections, including some of their own paintings, including those illustrated, mostly of the family and is open to the public.
Website: https://www.littlehall.org.uk