Stewart Perowne

Stewart Henry Perowne OBE, KStJ, FSA, FRSA (17 June 1901 – 10 May 1989) was a British diplomat, archaeologist, explorer and historian who wrote books on the history and antiquities of the Mediterranean. Despite his homosexuality in 1947 he married the explorer and travel writer Freya Stark. The marriage was dissolved in 1952.

Born in Hallow, Worcestershire, into a distinguished ecclesiastical family, Stewart Perowne was the grandson of John Perowne, the Bishop of Worcester, and the son of Helena Frances (née Oldnall-Russell) (1869–1922) and Arthur William Thomson Perowne, who was the first Bishop of Bradford and subsequently also Bishop of Worcester. His older brother was Francis Edward Perowne (1898–1988). His younger brother, Leslie Arthur Perowne (1906–1997), was Head of Music at the BBC and was responsible for bringing Albert Ketèlbey out of retirement to conduct a huge BBC Ketèlbey Concert at the Royal Albert Hall prior to World War II.

Perowne was educated at Haileybury College, where he was a champion sprinter, and at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he studied Classical Archaeology and Architecture He then studied at Harvard where he gained a graduate degree in Classics. He went to Palestine in 1927 under the British Mandate, as Head of Education in the Palestine Government Education Service, teaching at the Anglican St George's School in Jerusalem. He became fluent in spoken and written Arabic. In 1930 Perowne transferred to the administrative branch of the Palestine Government, working for a time as Assistant District Commissioner for Galilee. In 1931 he was appointed an Officer of the Venerable Order of Saint John.

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