Agnes and Margaret Smith

Agnes And Margaret Smith

Agnes Smith Lewis PhD LLD DD LittD (1843–1926) and Margaret Dunlop Gibson LLD DD LittD (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."