Agnes Lewis and Margaret Gibson

Castle Brae, Chesterton Lane

History of Castle Brae, Chesterton Lane

Listed building

Mid/Late C19. In the Tudor style. Red brick with stone dressings and blue brick decorations. 2 storeys and attic. 3 and 5-light mullion and transom windows.

In March 1890 Agnes and her husband, Samuel Savage Lewis, lived with Agnes’s twin sister Margaret at Castle Brae. Agnes and Samuel had married in 1887 and lived first in Harvey Road. Samuel died on a train in 1891 apparently of heart failure.

1891

Agnes Smith Lewis, widow, 48, living on her own means, b Irvine Scotland
Margaret D Gibson, married[?], sister, 48
Jane Lewis, 51, sister in law, b London
Mary B Burton, visitor, 29, b Ipswich
Douglas B Bunning, law student, 21, b Scotland
Sarah A Spanwick, 30, cook, b Middlesex
Julia Broker, 23, housemaid, b Cambs

Coach House:

Alfred Rayfield, 35, coachman, b Kent
Elizabeth, 34, b Surrey
Edward A, 5, b Long Ditton
Arthur, 2, b Cambridge

Lodge:

George Bourne, 29, gardener, b Hants
Mary Ann, 28, b Soham

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1911

Agnes Smith Lewis, head, widow, 68, b Scotland

Margaret Dunlop Gibson, twin sister, 68, widow, b Scotland

Frances Emma Hern, servant, 25, cook, b Gt Wilbraham
Emily Agnes Free, 35, parlourmaid, b Hildersham
Annie White, 22, housemaid, b Cambridge
John Mitchell, visitor, 36, presbyterian minister, b Scotland

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 learned more than twelve 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.” (from Wikipedia)

For a detailed description of Agnes and Margaret see:

https://web.archive.org/web/20210128072559/https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/61089498.pdf

See Mill Road Cemetery entry

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1913

Mrs Agnes Lewis DD, PhD, LLD
Mrs Margaret Gibson, DD, LLD