Maud Cunnington (part 2)

In this blog post, Maddie Watson, a finalist Modern History and Politics student at the University of Southampton, introduces their work on Maud Cunnington as part of their Beyond Notability Internship, run by Southampton Digital Humanities. In this part, Maddie follows the traces of Maud into the Wiltshire countryside.

The first part of their blog can be read here.

Oliver’s Camp, 1907

I visited the Iron Age hill fort of Oliver’s Camp (Roundway Hill) with my mum on a cold, blustery day in December. The recent rain had transformed the usually reliable tracks into a sea of mud, challenging our every step as we ascended to the summit. In grappling with the slippery terrain (lacking sensible footwear), I couldn’t help but imagine the struggles faced by the Cunningtons without access to modern roads and vehicles. Panoramic views of Wiltshire spanned for miles from the top, and the hill’s lonely trees swayed in the wind. Looking around, memories of my bygone years played out before me: the joy of family walks, shared picnics, and convivial drinks with friends; the exhilaration of sledging down the hill’s steep banks in the winter, and the poignant recollection of dates and arguments. The hill, once a backdrop for my childhood escapades, revealed a hidden secret – two Bronze Age Barrows nestled in its soft curvatures. The same land that bore witness to ancient burials generously accommodated the playful exploration of my childhood self, providing a nurturing foundation for my future understanding of archaeology and history. No doubt, the landscape witnessed generations of children like me growing up, creating an unspoken bond between past and present.

Two Bronze Age round barrows at Oliver’s Camp, Wiltshire.

The landscape also witnessed Maud Cunnington’s archaeological endeavours and the significance of this site to the development of her report writing. Maud worked closely with her husband, Ben Cunnington. As described by R.H. Cunnington,

‘[he] would usually act as a pioneer, with one of the men opening up the ground for subsequent excavation… …Maud’s part was to decide what should be dug, and in what order, and to exercise general supervision’ (Roberts, 2002, 49).

Following the fieldwork, Maud was once again in charge and studied the finds, drew up the records, and wrote the excavation reports. Interestingly, despite Ben’s background in journalism and historical writing, Maud assumed the primary role in report creation. Ben would only ‘correct the style, not the matter: his admiration for her and her work was too deep to ever call that in question’ (Roberts, 2002, 50). Maud ‘realised that her own style was too romantic and insufficiently scientific’ and moved towards a factual presentation, supported with diagrams, detailed contextual information, and the inclusion of an explicit research strategy (Roberts, 2002, 50-1). She attempted to emulate that of her peers, using the work of Pitt-Rivers as guidance, whom she met during his excavations in Wansdyke a few years earlier. R.H. Cunnington praised the holistic nature of Maud’s reports, however, he claimed that she ‘had no gift for writing’ (Roberts, 2002, 50). This criticism seems severe when considering the rapid development of her writing style and growth in archaeological knowledge. Maud’s newfound expertise and insights from this excavation allowed her to identify a lack of earthwork exploration that surpassed the superficial examinations typically conducted by relic hunters.

Beyond academic circles, Maud’s long-term focus was to make historical and archaeological knowledge accessible to the public. The substantial body of her work included public lectures, published books, and articles contributed to the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine (WANHM), The Archaeological Journal, and Antiquity. This commitment led to her being recognised as one of the foremost archaeologists of her day, receiving a CBE in 1948 for her contributions to British archaeology.

However, Maud was heavily criticised by archaeologists such as Keiller for her rapid publication of excavation reports, branding them as amateur and insubstantial. Roberts (2002) noted that Michael Pitts (2000) echoed similar sentiments to Keiller and his contemporaries, claiming that Maud excavated too quickly and did not keep proper records. Such opinions highlight the difference in methods between an older and a younger generation, as well as the evolution of the aims of archaeological publications. Maud wrote primarily from a visibility-raising perspective, at a time when archaeological journals and magazines were considered to be public-facing publications for education and finance raising. In the 1920s, when Keiller came onto the scene, archaeological reporting began to change to a more scientific nature, explaining their apparent disdain for the older techniques used by Maud. Personal animosity from Keiller’s time undoubtedly influenced the next generation of archaeologists to be critical of her work and to deplore her methods. It is important to acknowledge that the methods used by Maud and her contemporaries of her time laid the foundations for the approaches later adopted by Keiller.

All Canning’s Cross, 1911

The discovery of an Iron Age village at All Canning’s Cross was pivotal in making ‘Maud Cunnington’s name as an archaeologist outside the confines of Wiltshire’ (Roberts, 2002, 52). All Canning’s Cross is unparalleled in significance as the first site in which the emergence of Iron Age technology was identified in Britain. Ironically, the Cunningtons began their self-funded excavations unaware of the site’s importance. The revelation of substantial amounts of pottery, bone tools, as well as bronze and iron tools, added an unexpected, but exciting layer to their archaeological journey. Though I did not personally explore this site, I was aware of its historical significance, having seen artefacts from the site in the Devizes Museum. The excavations at All Canning’s Cross were interrupted by World War One, as well as by the loss of the Cunningtons’ son Edward in 1917.

Kendrick and Hawkes (1932, 160) lauded Maud’s excavation report as ‘one of the finest publications in recent years.’ This accolade highlights the excellence of her work, as well as signifying Muad’s burgeoning confidence in her archaeological abilities and the development of original ideas on prehistory. This newfound assurance would eventually influence her interpretations of future excavations, such as her work on Woodhenge in 1926. The lessons learned and confidence gained at the excavation of All Canning’s Cross contributed to her perspectives on unravelling the mysteries of prehistoric sites.

Woodhenge (Durrington), 1926-7

On the same day that I explored Oliver’s Camp, my journey through ancient landscapes led me to the site of Woodhenge, a Neolithic wonder near Stonehenge. Enclosed by multiple timber concentric ovals, marked by unassuming concrete posts, Woodhenge unfolded before me. The site was discovered by aerial photography in 1925 and was excavated shortly after by the Cunningtons.

Woodhenge, Salisbury.

As I stood among the colour-coded posts, I remembered my initial underwhelmed reaction to the site as a child, assuming its insignificance in comparison to Stonehenge’s impressive structure. Now, the ambiguity of the site intrigues me. It is hard to imagine Woodhenge in its original form, with wooden pillars standing as high as 9 metres tall. The accompanying drawing by Peter Lorimer assisted with visualising the site’s previous atmospheric nature.

Reconstruction of Woodhenge, © Peter Lorimer.

In the centre of Woodhenge, there was a grave marked by a flint cairn, from which the crouched inhumation of a young child had been excavated. Upon the cairn rested small offerings of pennies, hair bands, and small pebbles, a modern votive tribute to an ancestor created by archaeology (Williams, 2016). In the summer, it is common to see floral offerings here as well. The centrality of the grave to the monument forces visitors, both adults and children, to consider infant death and mortality and the fragility of life. The temporal distance between the burial and the present intensifies the enduring nature of human sympathy and the universal experience of grief.

Flint cairn at the centre of Woodhenge.

Woodhenge’s profound layers became apparent through the captivating dance between the Neolithic past and the present manifested through these offerings. However, Woodhenge’s narrative extends beyond its physical remnants and intertwines with Maud Cunnington’s controversial interpretations. In 1929, Maud wrote detailed excavation reports, but her interpretation of the monument as a prototype for Stonehenge stirred heated debates within archaeological circles. She drew similarities between the monuments due to the northeast-to-southwest alignment of the oval post rings at Woodhenge that was the same as Stonehenge. Both monument’s entrances were built to align with the midsummer sunrise.

Maud asserted that based on misdated pottery at Woodhenge, Stonehenge was a single-phase monument of Iron Age date. This claim was greatly ridiculed and is partly responsible for her diminished reputation. Roberts asserts that Maud’s argument was continually flawed despite the demonstration of logic in turning to Stonehenge for comparisons:

‘Because she wanted Woodhenge to be a model for Stonehenge every possible shred of evidence was used to prove this and anything which contradicted her argument was ignored or distorted’ (Roberts, 2002, 53).

However, only hindsight disproved Maud’s interpretation of Woodhenge. Maud’s commitment to public awareness led to the fundraising of money to purchase the sites of Woodhenge and Stonehenge to place them into public ownership. This ensured that the sites would stand as educational and inspirational resources for generations to come. By doing so, Maud Cunnington contributed significantly to the democratisation of archaeological knowledge, allowing everyone to engage with and be inspired by the rich tapestry of prehistory. Her legacy serves as a reminder of the importance of preserving our collective history for generations to come.

List of works consulted:

Cunnington, M. (1930) ‘Stonehenge and the two-date theory’, The Antiquaries Journal, 10(2), pp. 103-113.

English Heritage (n.d.) History of Woodhenge. Available at: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/woodhenge/history/ (Accessed: 22 January 2024).

Historic England (1972) 33 and 33A, Long Street. Available at: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1263549?section=official-list-entry (Accessed: 6 February 2024).

Kendrick, T.D. and Hawkes, C.F.C. (1932) Archaeology in England and Wales, 1914-1931. London: Methuen.

Moshenska, G. (2016) ‘Maud Cunnington’, Trowelblazers, 16 April. Available at: https://trowelblazers.com/2016/04/14/maud-cunnington/ (Accessed: 16 January 2024).

Pitts, M. (2000) Hengeworld. London: Century.

Roberts, J. (2002) ‘That terrible woman’: the life, work and legacy of Maud Cunnington’, The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine, 95, pp. 46-62.

Smith, B. (2000) The Gender of History: Men, Women, and Historical Practice. Harvard: Harvard University Press.

Taylor, H. (n.d.) Six Groundbreaking Female Archaeologists. Available at: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/histories/women-in-history/six-groundbreaking-female-archaeologists/ (Accessed: 16 January 2024).

Williams, H. (2016) ‘A Tomb of the Unknown Child: The Ancestor of Woodhenge’, Archaeodeath, 8 April. Available at: https://howardwilliamsblog.wordpress.com/2016/04/08/a-tomb-of-the-unknown-child-the-ancestor-of-woodhenge/ (Accessed: 23 January 2024).

Wiltshire Museum (n.d.) Pots excavated by Maud Cunnington. Available at: https://www.wiltshiremuseum.org.uk/?artwork=pots-excavated-by-maud-cunnington (Accessed: 22 December 2023)

Maud Cunnington (part 1)

In this blog post, Maddie Watson, a finalist Modern History and Politics student at the University of Southampton, introduces their work on Maud Cunnington as part of their Beyond Notability Internship, run by Southampton Digital Humanities. In this part, Maddie discusses their encounter with Maud via linked data and their exploration of her work as an archaeologist.

The second part of the blog can be read here.

I discovered Maud Cunnington on my first day working on the Beyond Notability Project in November 2023. She left an indelible mark on Wiltshire with excavations dating back to 1897, conducted alongside her husband, Ben Cunnington. Maud was used as an example when teaching me to create linked data, and I recognised that she lived in Devizes (my hometown). My interest was immediately piqued due to my curiosity about local history, as well as the evidence of her extensive work in archaeology. Before engaging with this internship, my academic background did not encompass any direct engagement with archaeological studies. Therefore, I was surprised by the extent of women’s participation in the field, exemplified by the data the Beyond Notability project have assembled about Maud, particularly given the considerable gendered barriers to achieving such involvement.

The Wiltshire Museum, Devizes.

As I delved deeper into the project and entered more data, I discovered places that Maud had excavated, lived, or worked at, that I also recognised. For example, her involvement with the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society (WANHS) connected her to the Wiltshire Museum, where I spent much time as a child and now volunteer. To enrich the narratives of women active in archaeology, the Wiltshire Museum displays many artefacts unearthed by Maud, alongside her writing desk and information regarding her excavations.

Over the Christmas holiday, as I embarked on the journey to explore sites associated with Maud, I found myself traversing familiar paths of my childhood and teenage years. The places that were once a backdrop to my adventures gained a new significance, layered with her historical presence. Walking through these sites, I couldn’t help but feel a connection to both the past and present. The playgrounds of my youth now shared space with the echoes of an accomplished archaeologist who had left her mark on the ground I once explored with boundless curiosity. It encouraged me to reflect on Maud’s legacy, as well as how our experiences as women undoubtedly differed despite similarities in our academic disciplines.

As an intern, the journey of adding various women to the Beyond Notability database has been an enlightening process allowing me to compare the contributions of women in the archaeological field. Sharon Howard’s visualisations of Beyond Notability project data have greatly assisted with understanding general trends in categories of contribution, such as correspondence, excavations, and work. From this, I have been able to interpret how women’s contributions interlink. For example, Maud’s excavations between 1908 and 1930 were atypical, as according to the data we have assembled few women who partook in such activity during this period. However, for the same date range, the correspondence category suggests that women more commonly contributed to the field by reporting to and communicating with various archaeological committees.

Themes of gender, social standing, and personal tragedy unfolded as I examined Maud’s contribution to archaeology through the lens of three pivotal excavations: Oliver’s Camp (1907), All Canning’s Cross (1911), and Woodhenge (1926). Maud’s educated, middle-class background and marriage into an equally sheltered line of Wiltshire antiquarians made archaeology an accessible vocation in comparison to women of a lower socio-economic background. Particularly, her residence at 33 Long Street, Devizes, with its distinctive Georgian architectural features and central location, served as a tangible testament to her high social standing.

33 Long Street, Devizes. Previous home of Maud Cunnington.

Historian Julia Roberts quotes Maud’s nephew, Colonel R.H. Cunnington, to exemplify prevailing attitudes towards female participation in the field in the 19th and 20th centuries:

‘… a man ought to know any language or science he learns thoroughly: while a woman ought to know the same language and science only so far as may enable her to sympathise in her husband’s pleasure’ (Roberts, 2002, 47).

The prevailing perspective suggested that female participation in disciplines such as archaeology primarily held significance to humour her husband’s interests. Such limiting views fail to explain Maud’s unbounded enthusiasm for the discipline and highlight the lack of expectation for women to cultivate a personal interest in archaeology, as well as diminishing the recognition of their achievements. Maud became a member of WANHS in 1907, despite the members lists revealing very few women were involved alongside her. On the Beyond Notability database, only six other women are recorded as connected to WANHS at a similar time to Maud, and only three women are in the database as members of the society (though these numbers are skewed by archival research that has focuses on national bodies). The Beyond Notability project has unearthed a long-standing presence of women in the field who worked alongside their husbands. However, evidence of independent publishing suggests that these women were active participants contributing to the advancement of archaeological knowledge. Particularly, Maud’s publications underscored the fallacy of women’s involvement in the discipline to appease their husband’s interests.

Roberts contends that Maud’s accomplishments are overshadowed by her polarising personality, given that it countered traditional feminine values centred around domesticity and subservience. I find this to be an outdated argument, as Maud and the other women noted on the the Beyond Notability Wikibase are evidence of women of all classes engaging in roles outside of the home, therefore subverting the dominant ‘angel of the house’ narrative. Maud’s work faced continual dismissal by new male archaeologists, such as Alexander Keiller and Stuart Piggott, who found her difficult to work with due to differences in methods of record-taking and excavation.

Keiller began his involvement in archaeological work in 1922, while Piggott initiated his in 1927 on leaving school, a period spanning 25-30 years after Maud’s involvement commencing in 1897. Their dismissal of Maud is representative of a generational shift, though undoubtedly, these difficulties were exacerbated by Maud’s seemingly somewhat cantankerous personality. Overall, women had been active in archaeology for many years before Keiller and Piggott joined the scene in the 1920s, though it should not be discounted that attitudes towards women in the field were characterised by tolerance rather than genuine acceptance.

The second part of the Maddie’s blog on Maud Cunnington can be read here.

List of works consulted:

Historic England (1972) 33 and 33A, Long Street. Available at: https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1263549?section=official-list-entry (Accessed: 6 February 2024).

Howard, S. (2023) ‘PPAs and change over time’, BN notes, 12 December. Available at: https://sharonhoward.org/bn/bn_notes/posts/ppa-2023-12-08/ (Accessed: 1 February 2024).

Moshenska, G. (2016) ‘Maud Cunnington’, Trowelblazers, 16 April. Available at: https://trowelblazers.com/2016/04/14/maud-cunnington/ (Accessed: 16 January 2024).

Roberts, J. (2002) ‘That terrible woman’: the life, work and legacy of Maud Cunnington’, The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine, 95, pp. 46-62.

Smith, B. (2000) The Gender of History: Men, Women, and Historical Practice. Harvard: Harvard University Press.

Taylor, H. (n.d.) Six Groundbreaking Female Archaeologists. Available at: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/histories/women-in-history/six-groundbreaking-female-archaeologists/ (Accessed: 16 January 2024).

On Arabel Moulton-Barrett

By Amara Thornton (Co-Investigator)

I first came across “Miss Moulton Barrett” in the summer of 2020 as I started exploring the history of archaeology in the Caribbean. Her name was mentioned in connection to a late 19th century excavation at an estate called Retreat or Retreat Pen(n) in St Ann’s, Jamaica. Retreat had been owned by a “Mr Moulton Barrett” and “Miss Moulton Barrett” had conducted excavations there. I dug around for more information (online, it was during lockdown). I happened upon a digitised and text-searchable copy of Jeanette Marks’ 1938 book The Family of the Barrett: a colonial Romance, charting the family history of famous Victorian poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning. A sentence in this book stopped me in my tracks:

“[…] there was born to Charles John [Moulton Barrett, EBB’s brother] by a woman of colour, a child.” (p 612)

Another child followed a few years later. Two daughters, Eva and Arabel, both born to Charles John Moulton Barrett and Elizabeth Barrett. Both Eva and Arabel grew up at Retreat in the late 19th century. These two girls were the Mixed-heritage Jamaican nieces of Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

I wasn’t sure whether Eva or Arabel was the “Miss Moulton-Barrett” of the archaeological reports I’d been looking at. But as I pursued my enquiries, I contacted the staff of Eton College Collections where the Moulton-Barrett family papers are held. They informed me that the “Miss Moulton Barrett” I was investigating was most likely Arabel – in 1880 Eva married John Casserly (listed on their marriage certificate as a planter living at Oxford Estate, Trelawny). Even more thrillingly, in looking through the archive on my enquiry the Eton College Collections staff had discovered six letters (written from Jamaica by Arabel (“Bel”) Moulton-Barrett to a relative (Edward F. Moulton Barrett, or “Edward of Albion” as she addresses him). The letters held at Eton College were written between 1945 and 1953.  Arabel Moulton-Barrett was by then a very elderly woman, and one of Jamaica’s most celebrated women poets.

In the 1890s, during an explosion of archaeological work in Jamaica, the Jamaica Gleaner published a report on the discoveries “Miss Moulton-Barrett” had made during her informal excavations at Retreat Pen. This report included a short description in her own words. By this time, she had loaned some of the artefacts discovered for display in a well-publicised exhibition on Jamaica’s pre-Columbian past, held in late 1895 at the Institute of Jamaica.

We added “Miss Moulton Barrett” to our database early in the Beyond Notability project (find her entry here). Her engagement in archaeology reflects a wider colonial context which we are mapping (including women with ancestors appearing in the Legacies of British Slaveownership database, listed here). But Arabel’s story and her letters are also particularly intriguing for me personally, as a Mixed-heritage researcher with close family ties to the Caribbean. 

Arabel Moulton-Barrett’s engagements with archaeology also highlight an important element of the context of women’s work in archaeology, history and heritage in Britain: empire. As a team, we are continuing to discuss how best to reflect and incorporate this imperial context into the database that forms a key part of our research project.  Through the project we want our database to be a framework and a model for situating these historic engagements with archaeology, history and heritage in Britain (as we know it today) alongside similar work happening within the British empire broadly conceived.

The paragraphs that follow explore three aspects of Arabel Moulton-Barrett’s story: her family background, the context of her archaeological work (assuming that Arabel Moulton-Barrett is the same person as “Miss Moulton Barrett”), and her later life. I refer to the letters held by Eton College throughout the piece. Written at the end of her life, when she was reflecting on her childhood and her childhood home, they are a poignant insight into her memories. While she doesn’t discuss her archaeological work explicitly in the letters, she does reveal the special place Retreat Pen, her childhood home, held in her heart.

The Family

The Barrett family had been associated with Jamaica since the 18th century, holding plantations across several parishes, including St Ann’s and Trelawny. While some members of the family resided in Jamaica others like Arabel Moulton-Barrett’s paternal grandfather Edward Barrett, lived in Britain. Edward Barrett received thousands of pounds worth of compensation after the abolition of slavery. His son Charles John (known within the family as “Storm”), had moved from Britain to Jamaica to manage Barrett estates as a resident proprietor. These estates included Retreat Pen, “The Retreat”, the plantation between Brown’s Town, St Ann’s and Stewart Town, Trelawny. Arabel’s mother Elizabeth Barrett was herself a Mixed-heritage woman. Arabel noted in a letter (2 Feb 1945) that Elizabeth’s father was Charles John’s “uncle Sam”, making Elizabeth and Charles John cousins.  Arabel did not mention the name of her maternal grandmother, though she appears to have known her.

In the six letters held at Eton, Arabel discussed her parents’ relationship in some detail. She emphasised their love for each other and mourned the fact that they had been prevented from marrying. Almost defiantly she wrote

“I consider myself as more truly born of wedded parents than any other woman whose mother bears a wedding ring”

“Bel” Moulton-Barrett to “Edward of Albion” 2 February 1945

Arabel revealed that Charles John gave Elizabeth a house and land in Stewart Town, Trelawny, bordering St Ann’s to the west. She noted that Elizabeth had acquired an education on her own, and “had a nice little library – theology, travel, autobiography & poetry were all represented.” (2 Feb 1945) 

Arabel and her sister Eva were brought up by Charles John at Retreat Pen – “my beloved home” Arabel called it (7 March 1956). Of Charles John’s parenting Arabel stated

“He did the right and honourable thing acknowledging his two little daughters. No father could have done more than he did […]”

“Bel” Moulton-Barrett to “Edward of Albion” 2 February 1945

According to Jeanette Marks the girls were educated in France. Charles John, Eva and Arabel travelled to Britain in 1867; Arabel recalled her visit to her uncle by marriage Robert Browning at his home in London in one letter, describing his voice as “Deep – rich – full” (2 Dec 1952). By the 1870s financial disaster loomed. Charles John’s brother Septimus was heavily in debt. Arabel recounted how Charles John spent all of his money and sold all the family properties clearing Septimus’s debt to save the Barrett name (30 Apr 1950). According to the Jamaica National Heritage Trust’s 2019 Archaeological Impact Assessment, Retreat Pen was sold in 1893. The only part of the estate that was not sold was the burial ground – this, Arabel noted in a letter, “still belongs to me.” (5 April 1950)

Arabel Moulton-Barrett’s complex family history encapsulates both the context of sexual exploitation of Black and Mixed-heritage women by White planters during the era of slavery, and the lives of the resulting Mixed-heritage population in the period after slavery. Some of these Mixed-heritage descendants, including Arabel, led relatively comfortable lives with the time to devote to intellectual pursuits.

Archaeology, Tourism and Jamaica

It is not clear exactly when Arabel Moulton-Barrett undertook her investigations of the mounds at Retreat, though it took place before the estate’s sale in 1893. By this time interest in Jamaica’s pre-Columbian past had intensified, tied to the colonial government’s plans for increasing tourism to the island.

In the late 1880s and 1890s, Jamaica had as its Governor one Henry Blake, who had joined the colonial service from a post in the Irish Constabulary. Before coming to Jamaica, he had been Governor in the Bahamas and (briefly) Newfoundland. Henry Blake was married to Edith Bernal Osborne, an artist and writer with a deep interest in archaeology (find her entry in our database here).

As Governor, Henry Blake wanted to put Jamaica on the map, drawing tourism and other development opportunities to the island. He worked to facilitate a large-scale international exhibition held in Jamaica in 1891. Edith Blake also took part in this work. In addition, she was increasing her own collection of Caribbean antiquities, writing and publishing on the history and archaeology of the Caribbean, and conducting her own explorations of sites.

The Blakes were involved in the Institute of Jamaica, a learned society which by the mid-1890s had begun to encourage and lead formal archaeological investigations . In 1895, Institute of Jamaica curator J. E. Duerden organised the “Anthropological Exhibition”, borrowing artefacts from collectors in Jamaica and beyond for the display. In a volume of the Institute’s Journal Duerden recorded the efforts of these resident collectors and excavators, including Edith Blake and Arabel Moulton-Barrett.

Duerden’s report makes clear that Arabel Moulton Barrett’s exploration at Retreat Pen centred around two hills connected by a ridge. These had once been fields enslaved workers had farmed for their sustenance – among them, possibly, Arabel’s maternal ancestors. In her notes on the work, published in the Gleaner and reprinted in Duerden’s report, Arabel recorded that the ridge featured small mounds where pieces of pottery described in the Gleaner as “of the same type as the aboriginal examples obtained elsewhere”, the bones of coneys (a mammal similar to a rat), and pieces of shell were recovered at and just below surface level. It would probably have been estate workers, under Arabel’s direction, who dug below the surface on the ridge. The Institute of Jamaica subsequently organised further investigations of the site, and Duerden reported that the previous cultivation of this area by enslaved people had resulted in damage to the mounds in question. It is entirely possible that the enslaved population working in the fields before Arabel’s explorations had themselves discovered further evidence of Indigenous life. A West India Company soldier who collected ancient stone tools in Falmouth, Jamaica in the 1860s noted in a report that formerly enslaved people had first recovered many of these tools.

Later Life: Arabel, the Published Poet

The 1893 sale of Retreat Pen seems to have ended Arabel Moulton-Barrett’s archaeological investigations. Perhaps, as she no longer had access to the family property, there was no opportunity for her to continue her interests. And her father’s impoverished circumstances must have played some part. She stoically references her long-standing financial worries, which were eased to some degree by her father’s brothers after his death.  “I have had to work hard all my life” she noted “but work is good for body and mind.” (30 April 1950). By 1913 she was living in Kingston, and it was there that she won first prize in a poetry competition. Her poetic response to the competition’s set question, “If I Were Governor”, was printed in the Gleaner in December 1913.

Between 1919 and 1925 three of Arabel’s short stories were published in The Catholic World. During the 1920s, she became more involved in the literary scene in Jamaica, and her work was included in the 1929 anthology Voices from Summerland, published in London but representing the work of the Jamaica branch of the Empire Poetry League. She continued to be a part of the Jamaican poetry league through the 1930s and 1940s, her poems published in League “Year Book” anthologies of 1940 and 1941, alongside the verses of many others, including Tom Redcam, Astley Clerk, Lena Kent and Constance Hollar. Her poem “The Lost Mate” (published in Voices from Summerland) features in a 1950 Anthology of the poetry of the West Indies.

Impoverished and suffering with loss of vision towards the end of her life, she records in a letter in the Eton collection (30 Apr 1950) that a group of writers had clubbed together to send her badly needed funds. She died soon after the letter was written. I hope she is buried in the family burial plot at Retreat as she wished, “close to my beloved father” (5 April 1950).

Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to Stephie Coane, Michael Meredith and Laura Carnelos, Katherine Harloe and Debbie Challis. Text of Arabel Moulton-Barrett letters reproduced by permission of the Provost and Fellows of Eton College.

References/Further Reading

Cuming, H. Syer. 1868. Proceedings of the British Archaeological Association. Journal of the British Archaeological Association 24 (4): 391-404.

Duerden, J. E. 1896. Jamaican Anthropology. Discovery of Aboriginal Shell Mounds in St Ann and St James. Jamaica Gleaner, 21 February, p 4.

Duerden, J. E. 1897. Aboriginal Indian Remains in Jamaica. Journal of the Institute of Jamaica  2(4).

Green, Cecilia A, 2006. Hierarchies of Whiteness in the Geographies of Empire: Thomas Thistlewood and the Barretts of Jamaica. New West Indian Guide 80 (1/2), 5-43.

Institute of Jamaica, 1896. Annual Report on the Institute of Jamaica for the year ended  31st  March, 1896. Kingston, Jamaica: Institute of Jamaica.

Jamaica Gleaner, 1913. ‘If I Were Governor.’ An Interesting Subject that attracted a good many competitors: Miss Arabel Moulton Barrett Secures First Prize. 13 December, p 7.

Jamaica National Heritage Trust Archaeological Division, 2019. Archaeological Impact Assessment, p 35.

Marks, Jeannette Augustus, 1938. The Family of the Barrett: A Colonial Romance. New York: The Macmillan Company.

McFarlane, J. E. Clare, 1945. The Challenge of Our Time: A Series of Essays and Addresses. Kingston, Jamaica: New Dawn Press.

Modest, Wayne, 2018. ‘A Period of Exhibitions’: World’s Fairs, Museums, and the Labouring Black Body in Jamaica. In Tim Barringer and Wayne Modest (Eds.). Victorian Jamaica. (pp. 523-550). Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Moulton-Barrett, Arabel, 1919. ‘Melia. Catholic World, CVIII, 517-525.

Moulton-Barrett, Arabel, 1920. The Little Brown Bird. Catholic World, CX, 29-36.

Moulton-Barrett, Arabel, 1925. The Star-Child. Catholic World, 228-236.

Moulton-Barrett, Arabel, 6 letters to Lt Col E. F. Moulton Barrett, 1945-1953. MS 681 01 02 03: Eton College Collections.

Poetry League of Jamaica, 1940. Year Book of the Poetry League of Jamaica. Kingston, Jamaica: New Dawn Press.

Poetry League of Jamaica, 1941. Year Book of the Poetry League of Jamaica. Kingston, Jamaica: New Dawn Press.

Working with Gwenllian Morgan

By Amara Thornton (Co-Investigator, Beyond Notability)

As a team, we have been talking a lot about work lately. In order to test out our evolving ontology for cataloguing women’s work, we’ve started to create quite detailed entries for a few women in our database. These detailed entries are based on the initial archive research we have done over the past few months, and associated desk-based research in primary and secondary source material. 

Working through the source material and figuring out how to catalogue what we are finding about women’s work most effectively has highlighted the need for us to construct a flexible and contextually relevant framework to represent what can be quite complex forms of activity into statements that work as linked data.  

We are using this framework to reflect the wide range of activities we are seeing in the records. And where possible, we are noting whether or not “positions held” – which we are deliberately separating from employment – are paid or unpaid, with salary specifics where we have them. To that end, we have decided to pull all these together by making a new item “public or professional activity”, each work-related property we create will now be united, and queryable, through the statement that it is an “instance of” a “public and professional activity”. 

Let’s take the example of Gwenllian Morgan, one of the women in our database. She was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in the 1930s, toward the end of her extremely active life. Her blue paper reflects the wide range of her activities – beginning with her name, after which are the letters J. P., indicating that she was a justice of the peace.  

The “Addition, Profession or Occupation” field on the blue paper reveals that she held the position of Mayor in Brecon, Wales, where she lived, in 1910, and that she was Governor (equivalent to a Trustee position) of the National Library of Wales.  

The “Qualification” field introduces yet more areas of “public and professional” activity that Morgan undertook: her co-founding of the Brecknock Society and Museum, her role as Correspondent (effectively local reporter) in Brecon and district for the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Monuments, and her association with the “restoration” of the Cresset Stone in Brecon Cathedral.  

This last detail took a bit of time and research to unpack. On first glance, it might look like Morgan had a role in conserving the stone, which had been found in a nearby garden. But in fact, courtesy of the National Library of Wales’s digitised newspaper collection, the “restoration” refers to Morgan’s purchase of the stone and (presumably) her donation of it to the Cathedral. As an aside, I’d highly recommend watching this beautiful film of a specially composed piece of music played near the Cresset stone, which is illuminated with candles. 

Turning to secondary source material, we find yet more evidence of Morgan’s activities in local government beyond her positions as J. P. and Mayor as indicated in her blue paper. An article in the Review of Reviews, published to coincide with her inauguration as mayor, notes that she had further positions as a town councillor and a poor law guardian

It remains to be seen how far Morgan’s local government work fed into her antiquarian interests. But it is clear that Morgan felt very strongly about championing women’s work in local government. She outlined her thoughts on the matter at a meeting of the National Union of Women Workers, which took place in Manchester in 1895.  Her speech there was published as a pamphlet, which is now accessible through the LSE Women’s Library digital collection.  

Alongside this local work, Morgan took part in national and international campaigns for temperance, holding positions in the World Women’s Christian Temperance Association and the British Women’s Temperance Association in the 1890s. As Superintendent of Petitions and Treaties for the WWCTA, she led on the collection of signatures of Great Britain and Ireland for the Polyglot petition, which called for governments to prevent trade in opium and alcohol. The founder of the WWCTA, Frances E. Willard, noted in her announcement of Morgan’s appointment that Morgan owed the role to her friend Lady Henry Somerset – an indication both of the role of patronage in these appointments and of Morgan’s social network. 

Morgan’s public and professional activities encompass some key areas we are planning to highlight through our database, including the intersection of proto-feminist campaigning with heritage-related and philanthropic activities. We won’t be able to cover every woman in our database in this much detail, but Morgan’s active life gives us a useful template for thinking through how we represent various aspects of women’s work through time.  

References/Further Reading 

Brecon County Times, 1913. Builth Wells Naturalists At the Priory Church, Brecon, 31 July, p 6. 

Chapin, Clara, 1895. Thumb nail sketches of white ribbon women. Chicago: Women’s Temperance Publishing Association. 

Morgan, Gwenllian E. F. 1895. The Duties of Citizenship: The Proper Understanding and Use of the Municipal and Other Franchises for Women. 

Willard, Frances E. 1890. A New World’s Secretary. The Union Signal, 4 December, p. 12. 

International Women’s Day!

The Beyond Notability project is taking over the Society of Antiquaries Twitter feed for this year’s International Women’s Day!

As part of this event, we are featuring two audio recordings from the correspondence of two women who are now featured on our database: Eliza Jeffries Davis, a historian, and Margerie Venables Taylor, an archaeologist.

These recordings of letters in the Victoria County History (VCH) archive have been created by Professor Catherine Clarke (Davis) and Claire-Louise Lucas (Taylor). The project is particularly grateful to Victoria County History for permission to record the extracts and make transcriptions of them available here. We’re also very grateful to Professor Catherine Clarke and Claire-Louise Lucas for agreeing to record them.

Eliza Jeffries Davis worked for the Victoria County History as a researcher and writer in the first decade of the 20th century. She became a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1929.

Margerie Venables Taylor worked for the Victoria County History at the same time as Eliza Jeffries Davis. She became a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1925.

These two recordings feature letters sent to William Page, the general editor of the VCH, by Davis and Taylor respectively. They illuminate the working lives of these two women. Davis’s letter is celebratory, sent on the publication of the VCH volume on which she had worked. In it, she makes suggestions for publicity and in so doing highlights her non-VCH working life, as a London County Council teacher. Taylor’s letter, sent after she had been working for some years at VCH, reflects her continuing concerns about the rate of pay for VCH researchers. She also reveals the expansion of her research work beyond VCH, enabling her to push more effectively for a salary increase.

Eliza Jeffries Davis

VCH Archvie EJ Davis read by Catherine Clarke March 2022

Eliza Jeffries Davis letter to William Page, dated 5 Oct 1909, on London County Council Moorfields Training College, White Street, Moorfields E. C. letterhead (VCH 2/22/3)

Transcript:

Dear Mr Page,

Thank you for your note. I am glad the London volume is really coming out at last – though I shudder to think of the negligences + ignorances in my part!

I am writing to suggest that you tell the publishers to send a prospectus of it to the heads of various London schools and colleges. I think we discussed this once, + you asked me to remind you again. It would be so very useful in teaching, + luckily the board of Education is awake to the importance of local history just now, so the heads of schools might think it worth while to spend so much money on a book!

In the case of institutions under the LCC it would be well if the notices were sent as soon as possible, as the “Requisition” for new books (only allowed once a term) are made up about the beginning of November. I enclose lists which may be useful.

Yours sincerely,

EJ Davis

Margerie Venables Taylor

Extract from MV Taylor letter to William Page dated 24.IV.1910 from 48 Watton Crescent, Oxford (VCH 1/3/210)

Transcript

Dear Mr Page, 

I have been considering the question we discussed since I last saw you. I should very much like to work for the History again, but I think I ought to have more than 1/6d an hour. If you work out £2.10 a week, working 5-6 hours a day, inclusive of all holidays etc, it comes to more than that. At the present moment for Research work at the Bodley I am paid 2/- an hour + other workers-transcribers are paid 2/6 an hour, while the ordinary, not very skilled, catalogue assistant receives 1/6 an hour. So that I think I ought to have 2/- an hour, especially when it is not certain that the work will continue for more than two years. I put the facts before you so that you will understand my position. I really feel it is not fair to take research work at 1/6 an hour, after some years’ experiences. I am sorry to trouble you in this way, but I think you will understand + tell me exactly what you think.  […]

**If you would like to explore the lives of Eliza Jeffries Davis and Margerie Venables further, you will find them on our database at: https://beyond-notability.wiki.opencura.com/wiki/Item:Q153 (Davis); https://beyond-notability.wiki.opencura.com/wiki/Item:Q133 (Taylor).

Gertrude Rachel Levy in the Archives

By Amara Thornton (Co-Investigator, Beyond Notability)

My first guest post for the project is on Gertrude Rachel Levy (1883-1966) who was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1947, while she was working as Librarian of the Hellenic & Roman Societies in London. I focus on her work in the 1920s and 30s in Mandate Palestine and Iraq, and spent a morning in the archive of the Palestine Exploration Fund to track her down, coming across many other women in archaeology, history and heritage along the way! “Gertrude Rachel Levy in Mandate Palestine” is published on the Institute of Classical Studies blog.