Emily Hornby

Emily Hornby (1833 – 1906) was an English travel writer and mountaineer.

Early life
She was born December 1833 in Liverpool where her father, Thomas Hornby M.A. (1801-1890), was curate of St. George's Liverpool (1832-47) and later vicar of Walton On The Hill, Lancashire (1847-1890). Her mother was Margaret Rigby (1800-1857). She had three younger sisters, Mary Louisa Hornby (1835-1913), Edith Agnes Hornby (1839-1894) and Frances Margaret Hornby (1841-1924), who would often accompany her on her travels.

Mountaineering and travel
She was climbing mountains from 1873 to 1895, including Mont Blanc (4807m), Monte Rosa (4634m), Eiger (3967m) and Jungfrau (4158m). She was the eighth woman to climb the Matterhorn (4,478m) in 1875. She climbed with Alois Pollinger.

In 1890 Emily was climbing in the Dolomites. In 1899 and 1901 she travelled to Petra and Sinai, sailing on the Nile in 1905 with her sisters Mary and Frances. Her book of her travels to Sinai include watercolour sketches by Frances. Her travels up the Nile were published posthumously in 1906, and reprinted in 1908 with drawings by Frances.

Personal life
After the death of their father in 1890 three of the sisters, Emily, Edith and Frances, left Walton. In about 1893 they moved to Ham, Surrey, where they rented The Manor House. After the death of Emily in 1906, Frances lived briefly in Evelyn Road before buying Orford House on Ham Common about 1909.

Emily died on 13 April 1906 at The Manor House, Ham, Surrey, leaving £67,774 in her will. Her cremated remains were interred at St Andrew's Church, Ham.

Books

 * A Tour in the Alps of Dauphiné and A Tour in the Carpathians (1906). Liverpool: J. A. Thompson
 * Sinai and Petra: The Journals of Emily Hornby in 1899 and 1901 (1907). London: J. Nisbet, Liverpool: J. A. Thompson
 * Mountaineering Records (1907). Edited by Montague Leyland Hornby. Liverpool: J. A. Thompson
 * A Nile Journal (1908). Liverpool: J. A. Thompson