Katharine Dorothea Ewart (November 26, 1870May 21, 1956) was a British historian and author of books on Italian history.
Early life
She was born at the vicarage in
Bishops Cannings, Wiltshire on 26 November 1870, the daughter of William Ewart (18181873), vicar of Bishops Cannings, and his wife, Katharine, née Matthews (18401918). After her father's death, her widowed mother settled in
Bristol where Dorothea was educated at
Clifton High School for Girls
Clifton High School is a co-educational independent school in Clifton, Bristol, England. The school is the only one in the region to operate the Diamond Edge model of education. This model means boys and girls are educated together from Nurse ...
. She won a
Clothworkers' scholarship at
Somerville College, Oxford
Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...
, where she took
first-class honours in modern history in 1893. She served as secretary for the Oxford Association for Mental Welfare.
Family
On 12 December 1899, she married Horace Middleton Vernon, an Oxford scholar of
physiology. The couple settled in Oxford and had five children, of whom a son and three daughters survived to adulthood. Their eldest daughter
Magdalen and their son
Philip
Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...
both later became eminent professors of
psychology.
Published works
Her first work was a biography of
Cosimo de' Medici
Cosimo di Giovanni de' Medici (27 September 1389 – 1 August 1464) was an Italian banker and politician who established the Medici family as effective rulers of Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance. His power derived from his wealth ...
published in 1899 as part of
Macmillan's ''Foreign Statesmen Series''. In 1909 she published a survey of Italian history entitled ''Italy 1494–1790'', part of the ''
Cambridge Historical Series
Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
'', which was reviewed as a welcome contribution to the subject. In 1909 she also wrote a short history of the
Oxford University Museum with her husband. She coauthored ''Italy, Medieval and Modern, a History'', published in 1917. Her final work was ''The Story of Italy'', published in 1939.
Death
She was widowed by her husband's death in 1951. She died in the mental hospital at Wyke House, Syon Lane, Isleworth, Middlesex, on 21 May 1956.
References
Sources
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{{Authority control
1870 births
1956 deaths
20th-century British historians
British women historians
Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford