Maria Millington Lathbury

Lathbury was born in 1856,[1] the daughter of Charles Crawford Lathbury of Wimbledon.[2] In 1886, aged 30, she began to study Literae humaniores at the University of Oxford;[3][4][5] her college was Somerville.[6] Her interest in the classical world had been stimulated by Jane Harrison's "Extension Lectures in the Suburbs".[5] At Oxford she was taught by Percy Gardner.[5] Later she also travelled to Greece as a companion for a 'younger woman' in 1892. There some of the research for her subsequent book took place.[6] She also joined one of Dörpfeld's tours of the Greek islands.[5] In 1892 she also wrote a note in The Academy on the lighting within Greek temples.[7]

Also in 1892, Lathbury married the archaeologist Sir John Evans.[8] They had met at a lecture that Lathbury attended on "The Dates of some Greek Temples as derived from their orientation".[9] They met again the following week at a diner party and five months later were married.[9][10] For a wedding gift, Evans gave Lathbury a Roman cameo, in a gold mount by Alessandro Castellani.[8] They toured archaeological sites in Britain and France for their honeymoon, travelling with their mutual friend Nina Layard.[11]

On 22 June 1893, their daughter Joan Evans was born at Nash Mills, Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire.[12] In 1906 the family moved to Britwell, Berkhamsted.[12] In 1908 her husband died; in his obituary Lathbury was described as a "classical scholar and keen antiquary".[13]

She died in 1944.[1]

After completing the examinations in the late 1880s, Lathbury was appointed as an Extension Lecturer for the university.[14] She was also a 'lady lecturer' at the British Museum, focusing on Greek dress.[14] In fact, along with Ethel Abrahams, Lathbury was one of the first female scholars of Greek Dress.[15] Both scholars wanted their work to be accessible so that members of the public could recreate Greek styles of dress for themselves.[15]

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.[16]

In 1892 she designed the costume for a production of Aristophanes' The Frogs.[17] 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'.[18]

In 1900 The Englishwoman's Yearbook & Directory listed her as a woman "active in archaeology".[19]

• Chapters on Greek Dress (London, 1893)[18]
• 'Hair Dressing on Roman Ladies as Illustrated on Coins' Numismatic Chronicle (1906)[20]
• 'A Silver Badge of Thetford' Numismatic Chronicle (1907)[21]
• 'Memorial Medal of Anne Eldred' Numismatic Chronicle (1908)[22]
• 'A Silver Plaque of Charles I as Prince' Numimatic Chronicle (1908)[23]
• 'Memorial Medal of Josiah Nicolson' Numismatic Chronicle (1909)[24]
• 'The Trentham Statue and the Sacerdotessa' The Burlington Magazine (1910)[25]
• 'Le Pontifical de Metz' Revue Archéologique (1912)[26]
• Lustre Pottery (1920)[27]
• 'Moorish Potters in France' The Burlington Magazine (1936)[28]

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.[29] A new capsule was re-buried on the same spot in 2018.[30][31]