Sykes was born in
Stoke near Plymouth in 1863. Her parents were Army chaplain Rev. William Sykes (born 1829) and his wife Mary, daughter of Captain Anthony Oliver Molesworth, of the
Royal Artillery, descended from
Robert Molesworth, 1st
Viscount Molesworth. Her father was honorary chaplain to Queen Victoria. Her sister
Ethel Sykes was also a writer, and their only brother
Percy Sykes became a brigadier, diplomat and writer. Her father William was the second son of Richard Sykes, of Edgeley House,
Stockport, owner of the
Sykes Bleaching Company; Percy Sykes was thus the nephew of
Richard Sykes, the
rugby player who founded towns in America, and cousin of
Sir Alan Sykes, 1st Baronet who was MP for
Knutsford,
Cheshire. She had enough money that she did not need to work. In 1894 her brother Percy was tasked with establishing consulates in
Kerman and
Baluchistan and he invited her to come along. They spent two years travelling. which was published in 1898. She also took photographs whilst on the journey, and an album of photographs was published but these were all taken by her brother. In 1915 she set off again to accompany her brother. He had been asked to become the temporary consul replacing
Sir George Macartney in
Kashgar whilst he and
Catherine Macartney took a vacation. They had to journey to
Tashkent and then proceed by pony over passes 12,000 feet above sea level to find Kashgar in Turkestan. The journey took them over a month. Whilst they were there they travelled further in some places this was exploration. She was the first British woman to pass through the "Katta Dawan" pass that was 13,000 feet high. Their journey home also took a month and these journeys were recorded in photographs. In 1920 she and her brother Percy published
Through Deserts and Oases of Central Asia. Sykes died in her home in
London in 1939. ==References==