George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon

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George Herbert
Lord Carnarvon, who was the chief financial backer on many of Howard Carter's Egyptian excavations.
Born	June 26, 1866 Highclere Castle
Died	5 April 1923 (aged 56)
Nationality	England
Fields	Egyptology
Known for	Tutankhamun's tomb

George Edward Stanhope Molyneux Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon (June 26, 1866 – April 5, 1923) was an English aristocrat best known as the financier of the excavation of the Egyptian New Kingdom Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings.

Lady and Lord Carnarvon at the races in June 1921

[edit] Biography

Born at the family home, Highclere Castle, in Hampshire on June 26, 1866, George Herbert was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, succeeding to the Carnarvon title in 1890. On June 26, 1895 Carnarvon married Almina Victoria Maria Alexandra Wombwell, daughter of Marie Boyer, the wife of Frederick Charles Wombwell, but her real father was possibly Alfred de Rothschild, the unmarried member of the prominent Rothschild banking family of England who made Lady Carnarvon his heiress.

Exceedingly wealthy, Lord Carnarvon was at first best known as an owner of racehorses and as a reckless driver of early automobiles, suffering - in 1901 - a serious motoring accident in Germany which left him significantly disabled.

In 1902, the 5th Earl established Highclere Stud to breed Thoroughbred racehorses. In 1905, he was appointed one of the Stewards at the new Newbury Racecourse. His family has maintained the connection ever since. His grandson, Henry George Reginald Molyneux Herbert, 7th Earl of Carnarvon, was Racing Manager to Queen Elizabeth II from 1969, and one of Her Majesty's closest friends.

[edit] Interest in Egyptology

The 5th Earl was an enthusiastic amateur Egyptologist, undertaking in 1907 to sponsor the excavation of the royal tombs at Thebes by Howard Carter. It was in 1922 that they together opened the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings, exposing treasures unsurpassed in the history of archaeology. Several months later, Carnarvon died in the Continental-Savoy Hotel in Cairo, giving popular credence to the story of the "Curse of Tutankhamun", the "Mummy's Curse." His death is most probably explained by blood poisoning (progressing to pneumonia) after accidentally shaving a mosquito bite infected with erysipelas. At 1:55 a.m., the lights in Cairo went out and plunged the people into darkness. Reportedly, at the same time, back at his home, his dog gave out a great howl and died.^{[citation needed]} His colleague and employee, Howard Carter, the man most responsible for revealing the tomb of the young king, lived safely for another sixteen years. The hotel room in which Carnarvon had been found dead, has since never been made available to anybody else.

Carnarvon's tomb, appropriately for an archaeologist, is located within an ancient hill fort overlooking his family seat at Beacon Hill, Burghclere, Hampshire.