Maria Wilman

Maria Wilman (29 April 1867 – 9 November 1957) was a South African geologist and botanist. She was the first Director of the McGregor Museum in Kimberley, South Africa and the second female South African to attend the University of Cambridge in England.

Wilman maintained a lifelong interest in botany, establishing both a museum garden and a rock garden within the Kimberley Public Gardens. She published extensively on the flora of Griqualand West, including her key work, Preliminary Checklist of the Flowering Plants and Ferns of Griqualand West (1946). she was a member of several prominent scientific organisations, including the South African Philosophical Society and its successor, the Royal Society of South Africa.

Early life Born in Beaufort West on 29 April 1867, Wilman was the fifth of Herbert Wilman and Engela Johanna Neethling's nine daughters. Her father was an immigrant to South Africa from Yorkshire and served as an MP for Beaufort West in the Cape Parliament of Prime Minister John Molteno.

Education Wilman first matriculated at the Good Hope Seminary in Cape Town. Later, in 1885, she entered the University of Cambridge and was only the second South African woman to do so. She completed a natural science tripos in geology, mineralogy, and chemistry at Newnham College, Cambridge in 1888, and an MA in botany in 1895. However, women were not conferred formal degrees until the 1930s, so Wilman did not actually receive her MA from Cambridge until November 1931. She fostered relationships with local collectors on specimens, like Constance Georgina Adams, with whom she developed a long term friendship.

Her botanical work at the McGregor led to her publication Preliminary Checklist of the Flowering Plants and Ferns of Griqualand West (1946). She retired from the museum completely in 1953 and went to live in George. Wilman died there on 9 November 1957. She had never married.

Legacy Several plant species have been named in her honour, including Wilman lovegrass (Eragrostis superb), Watsonia wilmaniae, Stapelia wilmaniae, Ruschia wilmaniae, Hereroa wilmaniae, and Nananthus wilmaniae.