Francis Vyvyan Jago ArundellFSA (1780–1846) was an English antiquary, Anglican clergyman and oriental traveller.
Arundell was born atLaunceston, Cornwall, in July 1780, being the only son of Thomas Jago, a solicitor in that town, who had married Catherine, a daughter of Mr. Bolt, a surgeon at Launceston. Francis was educated atLiskeard Grammar School and atExeter College, Oxford, where he took the degree of M.A. in 1809, and after having been ordained in theChurch of England he took a curacy atAntony in his native county.[1]
From youth to old age Arundell was imbued with a love of antiquarian study, and after his institution in 1805 to the rectory ofLandulph on the banks of theTamar, he threw himself with avidity into the history ofCornwall. WhenNicholas Condy, an artist atPlymouth, published a series of views ofCotehele, the ancient seat ofLord Mount Edgcumbe, Arundell supplied the description of the house which accompanied them. He was elected aFellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1811,[1] but removed from the fellowship in 1845, for being 28 years behind in his subscription.[2]
In the church of Landulph is a brass to the memory ofTheodoro Palaeologus, descended from the last of theByzantine emperors, who died on 21 January 1637, and an account of this inscription, and of the person whom it commemorated, was printed by Jago in the volume of theArchæologia for 1817, and reprinted inDavies Gilbert'sCornwall (iii, 365). This paper was afterwards amplified intoSome Notice of the Church of Landulph, which was published in 1840, and a reprint of which, with additions by Joseph Polsue ofBodmin, was announced some years ago (i.e. before 1885).
One of Arundell's ancestors married a co-heiress of John Arundell ofTrevarnoe, and Jago assumed that name in addition to his own on 25 February 1815. Next year (17 October) he married Anna Maria, second daughter ofIsaac Morier, consul-general atConstantinople, and sister ofJames Morier, the author ofHajji Baba.[1]
After this marriage, Arundell turned his thoughts towardsthe East and became in 1822 thechaplain to the British factory at Smyrna, where he remained for fourteen years. With characteristic energy he began, very soon after settling atSmyrna, to arrange a tour of exploration inAsia Minor. The months from March to September 1826 were spent in a pilgrimage to theseven churches of Asia and an excursion intoPisidia, a narrative of which was issued in 1828. This book was very favourably received.[1]
Encouraged by his published success, Arundell ventured in 1833 upon another tour of 1,000 miles through districts the greater part of which had hitherto not been described by any European traveller, when he made an especial study of the ruins ofAntioch in Pisidia. Two volumes describing these discoveries were published in 1834. Although he made a third tour in 1835 and 1836 throughPalestine, no account of his travels was published.[3]
Whilst residing at Smyrna, Arundell made large collections of antiquities, coins, and manuscripts; on his return toEngland, the coins were sold to theBritish Museum. He gave great assistance to the brothersLysons in their history of Cornwall, and at one time contemplated the publication of a history of that county on his own account. It has even been said that some plates were engraved for it. The materials which he collected for histories of Smyrna and of his native town ofLaunceston were never used, and are probably lost. He died at Landulph on 5 December 1846 and was buried in its church, not far from the tomb ofTheodore Paleologus. His widow died in Osnaburgh Street,London, on 2 June 1869, aged 80.[3]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Courtney, William Prideaux (1885). "Arundell, Francis Vyvyan Jago". InStephen, Leslie (ed.).Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 2. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 143, 144.
