E. Mary Smallwood

Edith Mary Smallwood was a British historian and professor of Jewish history under the Romans at Queen's University, Belfast.

Early life

Smallwood was born in Wandsworth, Surrey in December 1919. She received her education at the Mary Datchelor Girls’ School, Camberwell, and at Girton College, University of Cambridge, to which she won a scholarship. She graduated with First Class Honours in Classics, and was later a Research Fellow at Girton, gaining her PhD in 1951 under the supervision of Prof. Jocelyn Toynbee.

Career

Mary Smallwood was appointed lecturer in classics at the Queen's University, Belfast, in 1951. She became senior lecturer in 1963, reader in 1967, and was awarded a personal chair as professor of Romano-Jewish History in 1978. For the 1971–72 academic year she was a member of the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. She was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1972. She retired to Edinburgh in 1983.

Death

Smallwood died at Cluny Lodge, Edinburgh on 4 September 2023, at the age of 103.