Ethel Ann Burton-Brown

Ethel Ann Burton-Brown, née Marshall (1868-1927) was an English educator. She was headmistress of Prior's Field School from 1908 to 1927.

Life Ethel Marshall was born in Hertford in 1868. She was the daughter of the Rev. Charles Marshall and Elizabeth Mary Tripe, later Metham. She was educated at Highfield School, Hendon, the girls school set up by Fanny Metcalfe.

In 1886 she went up to Girton College, Cambridge. Though she initially wanted to study classics, her Girton tutors persuaded her to switch to history. She was taught by Gwatkin and Mandell Creighton, who both became friends and mentors to her. She achieved a first-class in her examination, though as a woman was denied a Cambridge degree.

Life in India and Rome Marshall married Frederick Hewlett Burton-Brown, becoming Ethel Burton-Brown and moved to India with her husband when he joined the Indian Army Medical Service. Her first two children, Beatrice and Margaret, were born there but died in infancy. On returning to London, Burton-Brown worked at the Women's University Settlement in Southwark.

In 1896 her husband bought a medical practice in Rome, and the family moved there. There she came to know the archaeologist Giacomo Boni, and wrote an English guidebook to Boni's excavations of the Roman Forum. She also gained extensive knowledge of Italian painting. Burton-Brown had twin boys, Christopher and Theodore, who were born in Italy.

Return to England and work in education In 1904 her husband was forced to give up his medical practice, and the family returned to England. After he had made several unsuccessful attempts to set up an English practice, the marriage failed. A judicial separation between Frederick and Ethel Ann was drawn up, and Frederick left the family to move abroad. She is buried near Huxley at Compton, Guildford.

Works Recent excavations in the Roman Forum, 1898-1904. London: Murray, 1904.