Hesketh, Robert

Epithet: of Add MS 36924

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000447.0x000309

Robert Hesketh, 1817-1880, was an architect at London and District Surveyor for Bermondsey. He was also the father of architect Robert Lempriere Hesketh (1850-1937). In 1839, he accompanied the artist George Scharf (later director of the National Portrait Gallery) and Sir Charles Fellows on an archaeological expedition, led by Fellows, to Asia Minor. On the journey to Turkey, Fellows treated Hesketh and Scharf to a cultural tour of Europe, including a three-month stay in Italy, five days in Paris, and one week in Athens. According to Scharf, Hesketh was not an enthusiastic member of the group. When Hesketh returns to England, separately, on 3 July 1840, Scharf notes: "He had never attached himself to us by a single act of assistance during the whole of our travels ... His sketches he kept to himself ... On entering a town, he invariably separated himself from us and preferred exploring the antiquities alone ... We parted coldly ...". A detailed account of the journey is available in: Slatter, E. Xanthus: travels of discovery in Turkey (London, 1994). Fellows's record of the journey is told in his An account of discoveries in Lycia (London, 1841).

From the description of Robert Hesketh travel diary, 1839 October 22-1840 February 19. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702198534