Margaret Benson

Born on June 16, 1865, in England, Margaret Benson was the daughter of Edward White Benson, who later became Archbishop of Canterbury. She wrote novels and ghost stories, and she is also remembered as an amateur Egyptologist with a strong interest in ancient history.

Benson is especially notable for her excavations at the Temple of Mut in Karnak in the 1890s. That work made her one of the first women to direct an archaeological dig in Egypt, an achievement that set her apart in a field then dominated by men.

She died on May 13, 1916. Though she is less widely known than some members of her remarkable family, her career brought together literature and archaeology in a memorable way.