Diaries and photographs relating to Margaret Annie Graves of Cambridge

Scope and Content

This collection contains the diaries of Margaret Annie Graves, commonplace books of Margaret and her father and photographs of the Graves family and friends.

Administrative / Biographical History

Margaret Annie Graves was born in 1872, the daughter of Charles Edward Graves and Ann Hughes Gwatkin. She was one of five children - Mary Florence (born 1866), Alice Maud Gwatkin (born 1867), Arthur Stanwell (born 1869), and Beatrice Marion (born 1875). At the time of Margaret's birth, the family were living at 2 Trumpington Street; they later moved to St Martin's, Grange Road (now part of King's College School). Margaret studied Mathematics at Newnham College from 1893 to 1896. The 'Alumni Cantabrigienses' records that Margaret went on to work as a visiting teacher in Cambridge from 1906 to 1948. Margaret never married, and she died in 1953.

Margaret's father, Charles Edward Graves (1838-1920), studied at St John's College between 1858 and 1863, firstly for a degree in Classics and then as Naden Divinity Student. He was made a fellow in 1863. Graves served as Curate of Chesterton from 1866 to 1868, having been ordained as a deacon in 1866 and as a priest in 1867. He worked for some years as a private tutor, and also edited various Greek works, including those of Thucydides, Plato, and Aristophanes, with English notes. Graves continued to perform duties at the University, serving as deputy public orator in 1875, and as select preacher in 1875, 1886, and 1892. He went on to become Chaplain of Magdalene College from 1886 to 1894, and served as a tutor at St John's College from 1895 to 1905. He married Ann Hughes Gwatkin in 1865.

Margaret Graves' diaries begin in January 1889, when she would have been seventeen years old, and continue until December 1895, part-way through the second year of her University studies. Margaret lived in a room at Newnham from October 1893 to March 1894, when she returned to live at home. She continued to attend lectures and study as an "outstudent." Her commonplace book covers a later period, from c.1900 to c.1940.

Arrangement

This collection is arranged as follows:

  • KAR115/28/1 - Diaries
  • KAR115/28/2 - Commonplace books
  • KAR115/28/3 - Photographs

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