Marguerite "Meta" Claudia Brevoort (November 8, 1825 – December 19, 1876) was an American

mountain climber Mountaineering or alpinism, is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending tall mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas. Indoor climbing, sport climbing, an ...

. Brevoort was born on November 8, 1825, and spent her early years in a

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...

school. She made a number of important ascents in the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...

in the 1860s and 1870s, but was thwarted in her two greatest alpine ambitions: to be the first woman to climb the

Matterhorn The (, ; it, Cervino, ; french: Cervin, ; rm, Matterhorn) is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the main watershed and border between Switzerland and Italy. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the ...

, and the first person to climb the Meije in the

Dauphiné The Dauphiné (, ) is a former province in Southeastern France, whose area roughly corresponded to that of the present departments of Isère, Drôme and Hautes-Alpes. The Dauphiné was originally the Dauphiné of Viennois. In the 12th centu ...

. Her role-model and rival was Lucy Walker, who began her considerable mountaineering career at the age of 28, in 1859. In 1871, hearing that Brevoort planned an expedition to the Matterhorn in 1871, Walker quickly assembled a party that included the famous guide

Melchior Anderegg Melchior Anderegg (28 March 1828 – 8 December 1914), from Zaun, Meiringen, was a Swiss mountain guide and the first ascensionist of many prominent mountains in the western Alps during the golden and silver ages of alpinism. His clients were mo ...

, and made the summit a few days before Brevoort arrived in

Zermatt Zermatt () is a municipality in the district of Visp in the German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a year-round population of about 5,800 and is classified as a town by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO) ...

. In contrast to Walker, who always wore dresses, Brevoort was the first female mountaineer to wear trousers. Brevoort was the aunt of W. A. B. Coolidge, whom she brought to Europe in 1865, when he was 15 years of age, and introduced to alpine climbing. Coolidge eventually became an outstanding mountaineer, with over 1,700 ascents in the Alps, and the greatest alpine historian of the Victorian age. The two climbed together for over ten seasons, and were joined in many of their adventures by Tschingel (1865–1879), a small dog their guide

Christian Almer 220px, Christian Almer Christian Almer (29 March 1826 – 17 May 1898) was a Swiss mountain guide and the first ascentionist of many prominent mountains in the western Alps during the golden and silver ages of alpinism. Almer was born and died ...

gave to her nephew. Later, she would proudly refer to their canine companion as the only "Honorary Lady member of the

Alpine Club The first alpine club, the Alpine Club, based in the United Kingdom, was founded in London in 1857 as a gentlemen's club. It was once described as: :"a club of English gentlemen devoted to mountaineering, first of all in the Alps, members of whi ...

". She and Coolidge journeyed to the Dauphiné several times in order to attempt the Meije, but encountered bad weather each trip. In 1876, she had her final opportunity for a first ascent, but, instead, stayed in the Oberland in order to give more money to her nephew, to support his efforts in the range. A few months later, on December 19, 1876, she died at her home in Dorking, England, where she lived with her niece. Her body was taken to

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, where she was buried in a grave in St Sepulchre's Cemetery, next to the grave of her sister, Mrs Coolidge.Mrs Elisabeth Neville Coolidge née Brevoort's grave
in St Sepulchre's Cemetery, Oxford.

References

Further reading