Elizabeth Caroline Gray

For the novelist, see Elizabeth Caroline Grey.

Elizabeth Caroline Hamilton Gray (née Johnstone; 3 April 1800 – 21 February 1887) was a Scottish historian and travel author, born in Alva, Clackmannanshire,^[1] as the eldest daughter of James Raymond Johnstone and Mary Elizabeth Cholmeley.^[2] She was the granddaughter of the colonial businessman John Johnstone.^[3][4]

Elizabeth Caroline Gray (undated portrait)

After marrying John Hamilton Gray, a priest and genealogist, in June 1829, Gray moved to Bolsover Castle in England, where she lived until shortly before her death.^[3][5]

Research

Gray became interested in the history of the Etruscans after visiting an exhibition of their artefacts in London organised by Domenico Campanari in 1837.^[6] She pursued the subject on a visit to Italy in 1837–1839, drawing on contacts in German and Italian archaeological circles. In 1840 she published Tour to the Sepulchres of Etruria, which served as a travelogue and an account of her archaeological research. She then wrote a general History of Etruria: the first two volumes in 1843–1844 and the third in 1868.^[3]

As a woman, Hamilton Gray faced criticism for engaging in historical research. In an 1844 review of her work, Samuel Ferguson^[7] remarked that "any deep or earnest investigation of matters connected with the social institution of a gentile nation is not properly within the female province."^[8] This review was sometimes mistakenly attributed to the explorer George Dennis, who also wrote about the Etruscans.^[9]

Other than her research on Etruria, Gray wrote a work on the classical and early medieval church and empire, and two popular children's histories of Rome.^[3] She and her husband maintained a collection of antiquities acquired both from dealers in Italy and from her own excavations. It included an unusual red-and-black Etruscan amphora in an Italo-Geometric style, known as the "Hamilton Gray vase".^[10]

Elizabeth Caroline Gray died in London on 21 February 1887.^[11]

Works

• Tour to the Sepulchres of Etruria. London: J. Hatchard and Son. 1840. (1843 ed.)
• The History of Etruria. London: J. Hatchard and Son. 1843–68. (Vol. 1, 2, 3)
• History of Rome for Young Persons. London: T. Hatchard. 1847. (1858 ed.)
• Emperors of Rome from Augustus to Constantine: Being a Continuation of the History of Rome. London: T. Hatchard. 1850.
• The Empire and the Church, from Constantine to Charlemagne. Oxford: J. Henry and J. Parker. 1857.