author
Greville John Chester
1830–1892
An Anglican clergyman turned indefatigable traveler, he spent much of his later life exploring Egypt and the Levant and helped bring important archaeological finds into major British collections. His writings mix curiosity, travel, and a Victorian taste for scholarship and adventure.
1 Audiobook
Evelyn Manwaring : A tale of Hampton Court Palace
by Greville John Chester
About the author
Born in Norfolk in 1830, he studied at Balliol College, Oxford, and was ordained in the Church of England. Ill health forced him to give up parish work relatively early, but it also pushed his life in a new direction: from the 1860s onward he became a persistent traveler, especially in Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean.
Over many winters abroad, he built a reputation as a collector, observer, and supporter of archaeology. Museums including the British Museum, the Ashmolean, and the Fitzwilliam benefited from objects he donated or helped acquire, and he is especially remembered for his connection to early Egyptology and for encouraging the preservation of material that might otherwise have been lost.
He also wrote travel books and shorter works, including Transatlantic Sketches and The Recovery of Jerusalem. He died in 1892, leaving behind the picture of a restless Victorian clergyman-scholar whose journeys linked religious life, travel writing, and the growing study of the ancient world.