Westminster Sisters

Agnes Smith Lewis (1843–1926) and Margaret Dunlop Gibson (1843–1920), nées Agnes and Margaret Smith (sometimes referred to as the Westminster Sisters), were Semitic scholars. Born the twin daughters of John Smith of Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, they learnt more than 12 languages between them, and became pioneers in their academic work and benefactors to the Presbyterian Church of England, especially to Westminster College, Cambridge.

Agnes's discovery of the Syriac Sinaiticus, on one of her many journeys to Sinai, was the most important manuscript find since that of the Codex Sinaiticus in 1859 and "the contribution the twins made in cataloguing the Arabic and Syriac manuscripts at Saint Catherine's Monastery was literally incalculable."

The twins were brought up by their father John (their mother Margaret Dunlop having died two weeks after their birth on 11 January 1843), a solicitor and amateur linguist. They were educated in private schools in Birkenhead and London, interspersed with travels in Europe guided by their father.

After John's death, they settled in London and joined the Presbyterian church in Clapham Road. Already conversationally fluent in German, French and Italian, they continued to learn languages and travelled in Europe and the Middle East, including travelling up the Nile and visiting Palestine in 1868. In 1870, Agnes wrote Eastern Pilgrims, an account of their experiences in Egypt and Palestine.

In 1883, Agnes and Margaret, by then also quite fluent in Greek, travelled to Athens and other parts of Greece. beginning a lifelong affectionate relationship with Greek Orthodoxy, whose monks occupied Saint Catherine's Monastery at Sinai. On 11 September 1883, Margaret married James Young Gibson a scholar trained for the ministry but then working on translations; and in 1887, Agnes married Samuel Savage Lewis, librarian of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge[1]. Samuel had also trained as a clergyman. Each marriage was soon ended with the death of the husband. Margaret's marriage only lasted slightly over three years. She is buried with her husband in Dean Cemetery in western Edinburgh.

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