Maria Millington Lathbury

Maria Millington Lathbury, Lady Evans (1856 – 1944) was a classical scholar, archaeologist and numismatist. An alumna of Somerville College, she campaigned for Oxford University to award degrees to women. Along with Ethel Abrahams, she was one of the first female scholars of classical Greek dress. She married the archaeologist John Evans, and their daughter was art historian Joan Evans. Biography Lathbury was born in 1856, the daughter of Charles Crawford Lathbury of Wimbledon. In 1886, aged 30, she began to study Literae humaniores at the University of Oxford; her college was Somerville. 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. In 1892, Lathbury married the archaeologist Sir John Evans. They had met at a lecture that Lathbury attended on "The Dates of some Greek Temples as derived from their orientation". They met again the following week at a dinner party and five months later were married. 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. On 22 June 1893, their daughter, Joan, was born at Nash Mills, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire. 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".Lady Evans died in 1944.