[2][4] Descending of wealthy Flemish traders, the Tyssen family acquired estates in Hackney and Norfolk, leading to a wide circle of friends and monetary influence.

[7] The sisters were also taught the importance of childhood education, caring for the poor and sick and the need to tend to building institutions which fostered the health and welfare of society.

They travelled in the private car of Ottoman Khedive, Isma'il Pasha, rather than by rail and stayed in Shepheard's Hotel, making excursions to the pyramids, Saqqara, and Suez.

May sketched birds, rode on donkeys and ponies, and, in addition to touring and camping,[9] attended a performance of Aida at the Khedivial Opera House and roamed the gardens and rooms of Inji Hanimefendi's palace.

[1][11] Lady Margaret, who was impressed by young Howard's talent, assisted in arranging an apprenticeship for him from the Egypt Exploration Fund,[12] as a tracer of drawings and inscriptions.

[16][17][18] Despite that it was unusual for women to participate in archaeology at the time,[19] in 1901, encouraged by Howard Carter, Lady William Cecil began excavations at Qubbet el-Hawa near Aswan.

[20] Carter, who in 1899 had been appointed by the Antiquities Service as one of two European Chief Inspectors and in charge of excavations in the Nile Valley south from Qus to the Sudanese border,[21] came to see the find the following day.

[27] Her discovery of the tomb of Heqata was described as a small chamber, with two earthenware pots and containing a square coffin upon which were a bow and some arrow tips, as well as three walking sticks.

[22] Returning home, Lady William Cecil published her findings "Report on the Work Done at Aswan" in the Annales du Service des Antiquités de l'Égypte in 1903.

The document, in Aramaic script, contained important descriptions of the fortress and city of Aswan in the era of Artaxerxes I and Darius II[22] and Lady William worked diligently with Howard Carter and others to try to get it published.

[41] In 1906, they were in Madrid, where Lady William served as the only English lady-in-waiting attending Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, Princess Henry's daughter, when she became Spanish queen.

[20] Her notes and letters have been useful references for other archaeologists in tracking provenance of objects which were part of the family collections[51] and because the tombs she inspected have not fully been subsequently explored.