Elizabeth Burnaby nee Hawkins Whitshed (Alpinist, Mountaineer and Photographer)

Elizabeth was born Elizabeth Hawkins Whitshed in Dublin in 1860. She was the daughter Captain Sir St Vincent Hawkins Whitshed and Anne Alicia (nee Handcock. She grew up in the family home in Greystones called Killincarrick House (though subsequently demolished). Her father died in 1871 and as the only living child inherited the family estate at aged 11. Elizabeth married the noted soldier and best selling author Frederick Burnaby in 1879 when she was 18. Though this marriage was short lived as Frederick died in battle in Sudan in 1885. Elizabeth would move to Switzerland where she started to climb its mountains. There she was instrumental in forming the Ladies Alpine Club, of which she was its first president. She wrote several books on mountain climbing and made 20 first ascents of peaks never before climbed. As well as her climbing feet’s and her book writing, Elizabeth was a noted photographer. She was married three times and died in July 1934. She was buried at Brompton Cemetery in London.
Noted writings include The high Alps in Winter; or mountaineering in search of health (1883), The Old Gardens of Italy: How to visit them and Charlotte Sophie, Countess Bentick: Her Life and Times.

Bibliography

Osborne, Carol A; Le Blond, Elizabeth (‘Lizzie’) Alice Frances (née Hawkins-Whitshed; other married names Burnaby, Main), Dictionary of Irish Biography, Royal Irish Academy, Dublin (2023)

Douglas, Ed; Mountaineers : great tales of bravery and conquest, DK, New York 2011