Earl of George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert Carnarvon

Born in 1866, George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert became the 5th Earl of Carnarvon and is most widely associated with the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. Although he was an aristocrat rather than a professional scholar, he developed a serious interest in Egyptology and used his wealth to support excavations in Egypt.

His most famous partnership was with archaeologist Howard Carter. Carnarvon financed Carter’s work for years, and that support led to the 1922 discovery of Tutankhamun’s nearly intact tomb in the Valley of the Kings, one of the best-known archaeological finds ever made.

He died in 1923, not long after the tomb’s opening, and his death became part of the public fascination that surrounded the excavation. Today he is remembered less for politics or society life than for helping make one extraordinary discovery possible.