Jill Braithwaite

Gillian Mary, Lady Braithwaite ( Robinson; 15 September 1937 – 10 November 2008), known as Jill Braithwaite, was a British diplomat and archaeologist.

Early life Lady Braithwaite was born in London to Ida and Patrick Robinson. She studied at Roedean School, and went on to graduate in French, Italian and Spanish, at Westfield College. She later learned Russian and Polish. She thereafter was instrumental in the establishment of several organisations aiming at social reform in the former Soviet Union. She supported a children's home at Dmitrov, and helped restore the ruined Tolga monastery as a nunnery in Yaroslavl. She was involved in the improvement of care for disabled children in the Volga region, and elderly care in Siberia.

She then began a PhD as an external candidate of London University, which she obtained in 1993. Her expanded doctoral thesis was published in 2007 as Faces of the Past.

Braithwaite's main contribution to the field was the establishment of a typology and a chronology for Roman face pots. As part of her research, she catalogued sherds and pots obtained from across Europe – from the Black Sea to Iberia, and southern Italy to Scotland. She was able to demonstrate that they were used as burial urns.

Braithwaite died in London on 10 November 2008, following a long battle with cancer. She was buried in Levington, Suffolk.

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