Agnes Smith Lewis and Margaret Dunlop Gibson

Agnes Smith Lewis and Margaret Dunlop Gibson
Agnes Smith Lewis (left) and Margaret Dunlop Gibson
Born
Agnes Smith; Margaret Smith

11 January 1843
DiedMarch 26, 1926(1926-03-26) (aged 83) (Lewis)
January 11, 1920(1920-01-11) (aged 77) (Gibson)
Resting placeMill Road Cemetery, Cambridge (Lewis)
Dean Cemetery, Edinburgh (Gibson)
OccupationsSemitic scholars, linguists, travellers, writers
Known forDiscovery of the Old Syriac Gospels; Syriac, Christian Palestinian Aramaic, and Arabic manuscript studies
Spouses
James Young Gibson
(m. 1883; death 1886)

Samuel Savage Lewis
(m. 1887; death 1891)
AwardsTriennial Gold Medal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1915)


Agnes Smith Lewis (1843–1926) and Margaret Dunlop Gibson (1843–1920), nées Smith (sometimes referred to as the Westminster Sisters), were English Semitic scholars and travellers. As the twin daughters of John Smith of Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, they learned more than 12 languages between them, specialising in Arabic, Christian Palestinian Aramaic, and Syriac, and became acclaimed scholars in their academic fields, and benefactors to the Presbyterian Church of England, especially to Westminster College, Cambridge.