Lilian, Lady Richmond Brown | |
---|---|
Born | Lilian Alice Mabel Roussel 1885 |
Died | 4 October 1946(1946-10-04) (aged 60–61) Rye, Sussex, England |
Occupation(s) | Explorer, author |
Spouse |
Lilian Alice Mabel, Lady Richmond Brown (née Lilian Alice Mabel Roussel) FZS FLS FRGS FRAI (1885 – October 4, 1946) was an English explorer and author.
Lilian, who was known as "Mabs", was born in 1885.[1] She was a daughter of Robert Roussel who lived at Rohais at Guernsey in the Channel Islands, where she was born.[2]
Reportedly after being told she only had a few months to live in the early 1920s, she took up exploring.[3][4][5] In spring 1925, Lilian, F. A. Mitchell-Hedges and amateur archaeologist Thomas Gann travelled to the Mayan ruins at Lubaantun in British Honduras (today known as Belize). They obtained relics for the British Museum.[6]
She was appointed a Fellow of the Zoological Society of London, Fellow of the Linnean Society, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.[7]
Lady Richmond Brown wrote several articles for magazines and newspapers and, in 1924, published one book, In Unknown Tribes: Uncharted Seas detailing her adventures in the Caribbean and Panama.[8][9]
On 27 February 1906, twenty-one year old Lilian married Melville Richmond Brown (1866–1944), three months before he succeeded his father, Sir William Richmond Brown, 2nd Baronet, as the third baronet.[10] The wedding took place at the register office at Christchurch, Hampshire and they lived for a time at White Rock, in Brockenhurst. In May 1910, her husband's affairs were place under the control of a guardian, Sir Melville's younger brother Frederick, due to his "lunacy."[11] She filed for judicial separation in 1909, but they were not divorced until November 1930, with her husband's guardian naming Mitchell-Hedges as co-respondent.[12][11]
Sir Melville, who did not remarry, died on 20 February 1944.[7] Lady Richmond Brown died on October 4, 1946, after several months' illness, at Lodge Playdon, near Rye, Sussex.[3]