Maria Millington Lathbury

Lathbury was born in 1856,{{cite web|url=https://research.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx?bioId=87773|title=Maria Lathbury|website=British Museum|language=en-GB|access-date=2020-04-07}} the daughter of Charles Crawford Lathbury of Wimbledon.{{cite ODNB|id=47612|title=Evans, Dame Joan (1893–1977), scholar and author|first=Kenneth|last=Garlick|year=2004|language=en}} In 1886, aged 30, she began to study Literae humaniores at the University of Oxford;{{cite journal|last=Wrigley|first=Amanda|title=ROBERT BRIDGES'MASQUE DEMETER AND OXFORD'S PERSEPHONES|url=http://fass.open.ac.uk/sites/fass.open.ac.uk/files/files/new-voices-journal/issue5/Wrigley.pdf|journal=New Voices in Classical Reception Studies|volume=5}}{{cite web|url=http://arthistorians.info/evansj|title=Evans, Joan, Dame|last=admin|date=2018-02-21|website=Evans, Joan. Prelude & Fugue, an Autobiography. London: Museum Press, 1964; Garlick, Kenneth. "Evans, Joan, Dame." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004; Coldstream, Nicola. "Joan Evans (1893-1977): Art Historian and Antiquary." in, Chance, Jane, ed. Women Medievalists in the Academy. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2005, pp. 399-422; "Dame Joan Evans, Historian of French and English Medieval Art." Times (London) July 15, 1977, p.18.|language=en|access-date=2020-04-07}}{{cite journal|last=Gill|first=David W. J.|date=2002|title='The passion of hazard': women at the British School at Athens before the First World War|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0068245400017482/type/journal_article|journal=The Annual of the British School at Athens|language=en|volume=97|pages=494|doi=10.1017/S0068245400017482|s2cid=162002147|issn=0068-2454}} her college was Somerville.{{cite journal|date=2011-04-01|url=https://academic.oup.com/bics/article/54/Supplement_111/115/5608457|journal=Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies|language=en|volume=54|issue=Supplement_111|pages=115–139|doi=10.1111/j.2041-5370.2011.tb00052.x|issn=0076-0730|title=Chapter 5: Women at the British School at Athens}} Her interest in the classical world had been stimulated by Jane Harrison's "Extension Lectures in the Suburbs". At Oxford she was taught by Percy Gardner. Later, she travelled to Greece as a companion for a 'younger woman' in 1892. There some of the research for her subsequent book took place. She also joined one of Dörpfeld's tours of the Greek islands. In 1892, she also wrote a note in The Academy on the lighting within Greek temples.Millington-Lathbury, M. (1892). CORRESPONDENCE. The Academy, 1869-1902, 0269-333X, (1028), 70.

In 1892, Lathbury married the archaeologist Sir John Evans.{{cite web|url=http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/131470/|title=Cameo set in a 19th century mount (Getty Museum)|website=The J. Paul Getty in Los Angeles|language=en|access-date=2020-04-07}} They had met at a lecture that Lathbury attended on "The Dates of some Greek Temples as derived from their orientation".{{cite book|title=Sir John Evans 1823-1908 : antiquity, commerce and natural science in the age of Darwin|date=2008|publisher=Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford|others=MacGregor, Arthur, 1941-, Ashmolean Museum.|isbn=978-1-85444-237-6|location=[Oxford]|pages=7|oclc=298587682}} They met again the following week at a dinner party and five months later were married.{{cite book|last=Evans|first=Joan|title=Prelude & Fugue|year=1964|pages=24}} For a wedding gift, Evans gave Lathbury a Roman cameo, in a gold mount by Alessandro Castellani. They toured archaeological sites in Britain and France for their honeymoon, travelling with their mutual friend Nina Layard.{{cite book|last=Hill, Kate.|title=Women and museums 1850-1914. Modernity and the gendering of knowledge|others=Sharpe, Pamela.|date=July 2016|isbn=978-1-5261-0031-3|location=Manchester|oclc=972478385}}

On 22 June 1893, their daughter, Joan, was born at Nash Mills, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire.{{cite web|url=http://hubbardplus.co.uk/evans/Joan_Evans_1893-1977/dame_joan_evans.html|title=Dame Joan Evans|website=hubbardplus.co.uk|access-date=7 April 2020}} In 1906, the family moved to Britwell, Berkhamsted. In 1908, Sir John Evans died. In his obituary, Maria Lathbury, Lady Evans, was described as a "classical scholar and keen antiquary".LORD AVEBURY. 1908. 'Sir John Evans, K.C.B., D.C.L., F.R.S. Born November 17th, 1823; Died May 31st, 1908.'. Man Vol. 8, pp. 97-98. (available on-line: [http://www.therai.org.uk/archives-and-manuscripts/obituaries/john-evans]). Lady Evans died in 1944.

After completing the examinations in the late 1880s, Lathbury was appointed as an Extension Lecturer for the university.{{Cite book|last=Thornton, Amara|title=Archaeologists in print : publishing for the people|date=25 June 2018|isbn=978-1-78735-257-5|location=London|pages=151|oclc=1045427073}} She was also a 'lady lecturer' at the British Museum, focusing on Greek dress. In fact, along with Ethel Abrahams, Lathbury was one of the first female scholars of Greek Dress.{{Cite book|last=Lee, Mireille M.|title=Body, dress, and identity in ancient Greece|date=12 January 2015|isbn=978-1-107-05536-0|location=New York|pages=14|oclc=892212917}} Both scholars wanted their work to be accessible so that members of the public could recreate Greek styles of dress for themselves. In 1891, she was interviewed in the Pall Mall Gazette with Jane Harrison, where they discussed the Greek world, archaeology and the character of female audiences for archaeological talks.{{Cite book|last=Thornton, Amara|title=Archaeologists in print: publishing for the people|date=25 June 2018|isbn=978-1-78735-257-5|location=London|pages=55|oclc=1045427073}}

In 1892, she designed the costume for a production of Aristophanes' The Frogs.{{Cite web|url=http://www.apgrd.ox.ac.uk/productions/people/12447|title=Maria Millington Lathbury AKA Lady Evans {{!}} APGRD|website=www.apgrd.ox.ac.uk|access-date=2020-04-07}} In the following year her book, Chapters on Greek Dress, published and dedicated to OUDS 'in remembrance of their performance of the Frogs of Aristophanes'.{{Cite book|last=Evans|first=Lady Maria Millington Lathbury|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uZlEAAAAIAAJ|title=Chapters on Greek Dress|date=1893|publisher=Macmillan and Company|language=en}} Lathbury was one of those who campaigned for Oxford University to award degrees to women, in 1896.{{cite book |last1=Brittain |first1=Vera |title=The Women at Oxford |date=1960 |publisher=George G. Harrap & Co. ltd. |location=London}}{{rp|106}}

In 1900, The Englishwoman's Yearbook & Directory listed her as a woman "active in archaeology".{{Cite book|last=Thornton, Amara|title=Archaeologists in print : publishing for the people|date=25 June 2018|isbn=978-1-78735-257-5|location=London|pages=7|oclc=1045427073}}

• Chapters on Greek Dress (London, 1893)
• 'Hair Dressing on Roman Ladies as Illustrated on Coins' Numismatic Chronicle (1906){{Cite journal|last1=Evans|first1=Maria Millington|last2=Evans|first2=Lady|title=Hair-Dressing of Roman Ladies as Illustrated on Coins|date=1906|journal=The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Royal Numismatic Society|volume=6|pages=37–65|jstor=42659999|issn=0267-7504}}
• 'A Silver Badge of Thetford' Numismatic Chronicle (1907){{Cite journal|last1=Evans|first1=Maria Millington|last2=Evans|first2=Lady|title=A Silver Badge of Thetford|date=1907|journal=The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Royal Numismatic Society|volume=7|pages=89–106|jstor=42663491|issn=0267-7504}}
• 'Memorial Medal of Anne Eldred' Numismatic Chronicle (1908){{Cite journal|last=Evans|first=Maria Millington|title=Memorial Medal of Anne Eldred|date=1908|journal=The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Royal Numismatic Society|volume=8|pages=178–194|jstor=42662183|issn=0267-7504}}
• 'A Silver Plaque of Charles I as Prince' Numimatic Chronicle (1908){{Cite journal|last=Evans|first=Maria Millington|title=A Silver Plaque of Charles I as Prince|date=1908|journal=The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Royal Numismatic Society|volume=8|pages=266–272|jstor=42662189|issn=0267-7504}}
• 'Memorial Medal of Josiah Nicolson' Numismatic Chronicle (1909){{Cite journal|last1=Evans|first1=Maria Millington|last2=Evans|first2=Lady|title=Memorial Medal of Josias Nicolson|date=1909|journal=The Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Royal Numismatic Society|volume=9|pages=241–249|jstor=42662213|issn=0267-7504}}
• 'The Trentham Statue and the Sacerdotessa' The Burlington Magazine (1910){{Cite journal|last=Evans|first=Maria Millington|date=1910|title=The Trentham Statue and the Sacerdotessa|journal=The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs|volume=17|issue=90|pages=371–368|jstor=858435|issn=0951-0788}}
• 'Le Pontifical de Metz' Revue Archéologique (1912){{Cite journal|last=Evans|first=Maria Millington|date=1912|title=Le Pontifical de Metz|journal=Revue Archéologique|volume=19|pages=413–414|jstor=41022591|issn=0035-0737}}
• Lustre Pottery (1920){{Cite web|url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/13th-november-1920/18/lustre-pottery|title=LUSTRE POTTERY.* » 13 Nov 1920 » The Spectator Archive|website=The Spectator Archive|access-date=2020-04-08}}
• 'Moorish Potters in France' The Burlington Magazine (1936){{Cite journal|last=Evans|first=Maria Millington|date=1936|title=Moorish Potters in France|journal=The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs|volume=69|issue=402|pages=136|jstor=866691|issn=0951-0788}}

Lathbury buried a time capsule on 20 July 1898, with a halfpenny and a handwritten note inside, to commemorate the construction of St Albans Museum, which her husband helped to found.{{Cite web|url=https://www.stalbansmuseums.org.uk/explore/time-capsule|title=Time Capsule|website=St Albans Museums|language=en|access-date=2020-04-07}} A new capsule was re-buried on the same spot in 2018.{{Cite web|url=https://www.hertsad.co.uk/news/replacement-time-capsule-buried-under-former-museum-of-st-albans-1-5781087|title=Modern time capsule buried under former Museum of St Albans in same spot as 1898 discovery|last=Berry|first=Franki|website=Herts Advertiser|date=15 November 2018|language=en|access-date=2020-04-07}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-41913300|title=Time capsules found at former museum site|date=2017-11-08|work=BBC News|access-date=2020-04-07|language=en-GB}}

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Category:1856 births

Category:1944 deaths

Category:19th-century British archaeologists

Category:20th-century British archaeologists

Category:British classical scholars

Category:Women numismatists

Category:Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford

Category:Wives of knights

Category:British numismatists