Anne Isabella Noel Blunt, 15th Baroness Wentworth (née King, later King-Noel; 22 September 1837 – 15 December 1917), known for most of her life as Lady Anne Blunt, along with her husband the poet Wilfrid Blunt, was co-founder of the Crabbet Arabian Stud in England and the Sheykh Obeyd estate near Cairo. The two married on 8 June 1869. From the late 1870s, Wilfrid and Lady Anne travelled extensively in Arabia and the Middle East, buying Arabian horses from Bedouin princes such as Emir Fendi Al-Fayez and the Egyptian Ali Pasha Sherif. Among the great and influential horses they took to England were Azrek, Dajania, Queen of Sheba, Rodania and the famous Ali Pasha Sherif stallion Mesaoud. To this day, the vast majority of purebred Arabian horses trace their lineage to at least one Crabbet ancestor.
Life and work
Lady Anne was a daughter of William King-Noel, 1st Earl of Lovelace, and the Hon. Augusta Ada Byron, the world's first computer programmer. Her maternal grandparents were the poet Lord Byron and Anne Isabella "Annabella" Noel-Byron, 12th Baroness Wentworth (née Milbanke). In childhood, she was known as Annabella, after the grandmother for whom she was named.
thumb|upright|A watercolour by Lady Anne described as "'Window onto an (?)Italian lake'. Dated 'Nov.26 / (18)67'. Inscribed verso of backing and dated 1868. 15x11 inches."
Lady Anne was fluent in French, German, Italian, Spanish and Arabic, a skilled violinist and a gifted artist who studied drawing with John Ruskin. She also had a lifelong love of horses, dating from childhood, and was an accomplished equestrienne. Her interest in the Arabian horse, combined with Wilfrid's interest in Middle Eastern politics, led to their mutual interest in saving the Arabian breed and thus their many journeys.
Lady Anne travelled extensively in the Middle East and is particularly noted as the first European woman to ride through the Arabian desert to reach the city of Ha'il.
The books Bedouin Tribes of the Euphrates and A Pilgrimage to Nejd are attributed to her and were based on her journals, but were extensively edited by her husband. Her own voice comes through more clearly in her published journals.
She owned a violin made by Stradivarius, since known as the Lady Blunt Stradivarius, though she was not the original owner. It was extensively refurbished in 1864 by Jean Baptiste Vuillaume, from whom she purchased the instrument upon recommendation of her instructor, Leopold Jansa. She possessed the instrument for 30 years, selling it in 1895. and others in the United States, Spain and Russia. She sold some horses bred from the Blunt lines back to Egypt, where they have a legacy today. Modern studs known for Crabbet breeding include Al-Marah in America and "Fenwick" in Australia, Some "Crabbet" breeders consider themselves preservationists, maintaining a small pool of pure or high-percentage Crabbet horses, while others use these lines as an outcross on other strains. In either situation, Crabbet-bred Arabian horses have a reputation for athleticism and classic type, good temperament, performance ability and soundness.
The Lady Blunt Stradivarius is now considered one of the best-preserved Stradivarius violins in the world.