Ancient CyprusAncient Cyprus

Traveller / antiquarian · Collector

Esmé Scott-Stevenson

1853–1925 · United Kingdom

Travel writer. Lived at Kyrenia. Married to A. Scott-Stevenson.

Life and work

  1. 1878–1879
    Saw the confiscated finds of Alessandro Cesnola, stored at the Commissioner's house in Larnaca, shown to her by Colonel White: hundreds of earthenware vases and 'fourteen large basketful of pieces of glass'. Quoted in Our Home in Cyprus; the date is that of the book's first year on the island (the book is dated 1880), not stated in the quotation.

    LarnacaMarangou 2000

  2. 1880
    Published Our Home in Cyprus (London: Chapman and Hall), a popular account of her first year in Cyprus, with descriptions of the rock-cut tombs of Kyrenia (p. 115 of the book) and visits to ancient sites such as Amathus.

    Reeve 2020

  3. March 1882
    The Greek-language newspaper Aletheia reported that a Turkish Cypriot landowner at Kyrenia had found an ancient tomb, guards were posted, but Esmé had begun digging herself and removed antiquities to her house. Andrew Scott-Stevenson's reply to the administration was that he had placed a sentry on the tomb, that Mrs Scott Stevenson and a party of English ladies were present at the opening, and that the owner gave them some of the pottery. Reeve calls it impossible to judge whether the pottery was gifted or appropriated.

    KyreniaReeve 2020

  4. April 1882
    A group of Cypriot objects traceable to the Scott-Stevensons (eight plain-ware pottery vessels, a lamp, two modern pieces) was offered at a Grand Bazaar at the Derby Drill Hall through a family connection of Esmé's with the organisers; bought and donated to Derby Museum and Art Gallery by William Boden, whose name, not theirs, was recorded in the museum committee report of 1882.

    DerbyReeve 2020

  5. December 1883
    The Scott-Stevensons left Cyprus in December 1883, after Andrew Scott-Stevenson's prosecutions for seizing sarcophagi and for assault.

    Reeve 2020

Connections

4 people
William BodenA. Scott-StevensonCharles NewtonHenry G. WhiteEsmé Scott-Stevenson
Sales & giftsFamilyColleagues

Sales, gifts & bequests

Family

Colleagues & contacts

Objects

  • Group of eight plain-ware pottery vessels and a lamp (plus two modern pieces) from Cyprus, probably from tombs near Kyrenia

    From Kyrenia (probable)Derby Museum and Art Gallery1882Reeve 2020

Sources

  1. 1.A. Reeve (2020). “The archaeological activities of the Scott-Stevensons in Cyprus, 1878-1883”. Bulletin of the History of Archaeology 30, 1-13.
  2. 2.A. G. Marangou (ed.) (2000). The Consul Luigi Palma di Cesnola 1832-1904: Life and Deeds.
  3. 3.E. Scott-Stevenson (1880). Our Home in Cyprus. London, Chapman and Hall.
  4. 4.Cyprus.