Elizabeth Hawkins-Whitshed

Who was Elizabeth Hawkins-Whitshed?

Elizabeth Hawkins-Whitshed, usually known after her third marriage as Mrs Aubrey Le Blond, was a British pioneer of mountaineering in a time when it was almost unheard of for a woman to climb mountains. She was also an author and a photographer of mountain scenery.

She came from an upper-class background, being the daughter of Captain Sir St Vincent Hawkins-Whitshed, 3rd Baronet by his wife Anne Alicia, and further back was descended from the aristocratic Bentinck family, and was therefore related to the Dukes of Portland.

She was born in London, but grew up in Greystones, County Wicklow in the south-east of Ireland, where her father owned quite a bit of land. However, her father then died, leaving no other children, while she was still a minor, and the Lord Chancellor took her on as his ward.

Elizabeth moved to Switzerland, where she climbed mountains in her skirt. In 1907, she took the lead in forming the Ladies' Alpine Club and became its first president. She wrote seven books on mountain climbing and over her lifetime made twenty first ascents, conquering peaks that no one had climbed before.