Lady Hester Stanhope

Born in Kent on March 12, 1776, Lady Hester Stanhope was the eldest daughter of Charles Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope, and a niece of William Pitt the Younger. Before her travels, she moved in high political circles in Britain, but she is best remembered for the dramatic turn her life took after leaving England in 1810.

She traveled through the eastern Mediterranean and the Levant, earning a reputation for independence, theatrical self-confidence, and unusual authority in places where European women were rarely seen in public life. Encyclopaedia Britannica notes that she became the de facto ruler of a mountain community in what is now Lebanon, while other accounts remember her as one of the best-known travelers of her time.

Stanhope also holds an important place in the history of archaeology. Her 1815 excavation at Ashkelon has been described as an early example of modern archaeological method, and her letters and memoirs helped turn her adventures into legend. She died on June 23, 1839.