Jessie Payne Margoliouth

Jessie Payne Margoliouth ( Smith; 23 February 1856 – 18 August 1933) was a British Syriac scholar and campaigner for women's suffrage.

Biography Margoliouth was born Jessie Payne Smith on 23 February 1856 in Kensington, London, England. Her father was Robert Payne Smith (1818–1895), a theologian and Anglican priest. She was brought up in Oxford and Canterbury. Her father taught her Syriac and lexicography. She assisted her father with the Thesaurus Syriacus (a Syriac to Latin dictionary), and, following his death, she saw it through to completion in 1901. She also abridged and translated the Thesaurus Syriacus into English in 1903 as A compendious Syriac Dictionary (Syriac to English). She later published a Supplement to the Thesaurus Syriacus of R. Payne Smith in 1927, adding 345 pages of new entries.

Margoliouth was a strong supporter of women's suffrage. She was also the founding chair of the Oxford branch of the Church League for Women's Suffrage, serving from 1910 until 1913.

Margoliouth died on 18 August 1933 in Boars Hill, Oxfordshire. She was buried Hoop Lane Cemetery, Golders Green, London.