Hester stanhope biography channel youtube

Lady Hester Lucy Stanhope 12 March — 23 June was a British adventurer, writer, antiquarian, and one of the most famous travellers of her age. Her excavation of Ascalon in is considered the first to use modern archaeological principles, and her use of a medieval Italian document is described as "one of the earliest uses of textual sources by field archaeologists".

She was born at her father's seat of Chevening and lived there until early in , when she was sent to live with her grandmother, Hester Pitt, Countess of Chatham , at Burton Pynsent. In August , she moved into the home of her uncle, William Pitt the Younger , to manage his household and act as his hostess.

Hester stanhope biography channel youtube: The Epic of Gilgamesh, Lecture

In his position as British prime minister , Pitt, who was unmarried, needed help with political social life. Lady Hester sat at the head of his table and assisted in welcoming his guests; she became known for her beauty and conversational skills. When Pitt was out of the office she served as his private secretary. After living for some time at Montagu Square in London , she moved to Wales and then left Great Britain for good in February after the death of her brother.

A series of romantic disappointments may have prompted her decision to go on a long sea voyage. Her former lover Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Earl Granville married another woman in , and Stanhope's niece Wilhelmina Powlett, Duchess of Cleveland suspected she and Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore - with whom Stanhope enjoyed a warm correspondence while he was fighting in the Peninsular War [ 5 ] - might have been considering marriage before his death in battle the same year.

In Rhodes she met Michael Bruce , an adventurer and later MP, who became her lover and travelling companion.