Charlotte Hussey (researcher)

Charlotte Hussey
Born(1864-03-24)24 March 1864
Rathpeacon, County Cork
Died1956
OrganizationGarden Tomb Association
FatherSamuel Murray Hussey

Charlotte Hussey was an Irish researcher and administrator for the Garden Tomb association in the early twentieth century.

Early life

Hussey was born in Rathpeacon, County Cork in 1864.[1] She was one of seven children born to Julia Agnes Hussey (née Hickson) and land agent Samuel Murray Hussey.[2] Her father wrote about his work in his book, The Reminiscences of an Irish Land Agent.[3] He was politically active and, on 28 November 1884, a dynamite explosion happened in their home, after he spoke critically about the Irish National Land League. Fearing for their safety, the family moved to London, where he attempted a run for parliament in 1888.[3]

Involvement with the Garden Tomb Association

In the 1890s, Hussey moved to Palestine.[4] In 1893, Hussey and Louisa Hope worked to found the Garden Tomb Association.[5] There, she was a significant donor to the association's purchase of a tomb, which was completed in 1894.[6] Hussey acted as a custodian and researcher at the site.[7][8] In 1923, she unearthed a temple to Venus at the tomb site, and she and Mabel Bent (widow of the explorer James Theodore Bent), another woman involved with the tomb, edited Arthur William Crawley Boevey's book on the site, The Garden Tomb, Golgotha and the Garden of the Resurrection.[9]

Personal life

While in Jerusalem, Hussey faced some controversy after a falling out with a member of the London Jews Society named William Dunn. Hussey claimed that Dunn spurned her at the request of Consul John Dickson’s wife. The drama divided the British community in Jerusalem, leading to accusations of adultery and calls for the consul to be dismissed. Hussey went so far as to open a bookshop with Mabel Bent to spy on the consul, although the matter died down after Dickson's death in 1906.[4]

Charlotte Hussey was later the editor and secretary of the Kerry Archaeological Society and edited their magazine in 1908 until it ceased being printed in 1920 due to the Irish War of Independence.[10][11] Hussey lived in Jerusalem as late as 1923.[7] She died in London in 1956, at 92 years old.[2]

References

  1. ^ "View Record" (PDF). Irish Genealogy. Retrieved 2025-12-06.
  2. ^ a b "Samuel Murray Hussey". castleislanddistrictheritage.com. Retrieved 8 December 2025. Second daughter Charlotte, born in 1864, was the first secretary and editor of Kerry Archaeological Society. She died in 1956
  3. ^ a b Woods, C. J. (October 2009). "Hussey, Samuel Murray". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
  4. ^ a b Brisch, Gerald (2010). The Travel Chronicles of Mrs J. Theodore Bent. Volume III: Southern Arabia and Persia: Mabel Bent's diaries of 1883-1898. Archaeopress Archaeology. ISBN 1905739133.
  5. ^ Harrison, Ted (April 2017). "Searching For The Place Of The Skull". Fortean Times ; London. No. 352. pp. 46–51. ProQuest 1884860907.
  6. ^ Cravotta, Samuel (2018-08-03). Evidence of the Crucifixion: The Place of the Skull and Resurrection Tomb. Christian Faith Publishing, Inc. ISBN 978-1-64191-507-6.
  7. ^ a b Kark, Ruth; Frantzman, Seth J. (2010), "The Protestant Garden Tomb in Jerusalem, Englishwomen, and a Land Transaction in Late Ottoman Palestine", Palestine Exploration Quarterly (142): 199–216, doi:10.1179/003103210X12789453090165, archived from the original on 2022-11-14, retrieved 2025-12-06
  8. ^ Walker, P. W. L. (Peter W. L. ) (2000). The weekend that changed the world : the mystery of Jerusalem's empty tomb. Internet Archive. Louisville, Ky. : Westminster John Knox Press. pp. 129–130. ISBN 978-0-664-22230-7.
  9. ^ Crawley-Boevey, Arthur William; Bent, Mrs James Theodore (1892). The Garden Tomb, Golgotha and the Garden of the resurrection. Jerusalem: Committee of the Garden Tomb maintenance fund.
  10. ^ Murphy, John A. (1968). "Review: "Journal of the Kerry Archaeological Society"" (PDF). Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society. 73 (218): 185 – via Cork Historical Archaeological Society.
  11. ^ Hussey, Charlotte (1908). "Introduction". Kerry Archaeological Magazine. 1 (1): 1–3 – via HathiTrust.