Yorkshire Philosophical Society

Event Information

Trailblazer: Yorkshire female archaeologist – Mary Kitson Clark

Sarah Sheils and Catherine Brophy

Mary Kitson Clark (1905-2005) was a trailblazing archaeologist who saved the Roman collection in the Yorkshire Museum from potential war damage by organising its removal to a safe place away from the centre of York in 1941. As Curator of Roman Archaeology, she was responsible for cataloguing and conserving this collection. Her “Gazeteer of Roman Remains in East Yorkshire” published in 1935 remains an important work. In 1929, after studying archaeology at Cambridge, Mary joined Dorothy Garrod excavating palaeolithic sites in Palestine as one of a pioneering group of women archaeologists.

In 1935, the Leeds-born archaeologist was appointed a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, an unusual honour for a woman at that time. Suffering from hearing loss after measles age three, she was a quietly enriching presence for many throughout her long life and an inspiring woman who deserves to be better known.

Join Sarah Sheils and Catherine Brophy of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society (YPS) as they celebrate her trailblazing work and the Roman Collection in the Yorkshire Museum. In addition, Sarah and Catherine will discuss the community heritage project ‘Museum Gardens Through Time’.

This event is being held in the Auditorium in Bootham School.  A York Festival of Ideas event.

This event is hosted by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society as part of its York Café Scientifique series.

Member’s report

Born in Leeds in 1905, Mary Kitson Clark lived a long life as a trailblazing archaeologist during an era when a woman’s place was regarded as the home and graduation from even our most prestigious universities was not possible. Nevertheless, despite suffering from severe hearing loss as a result of contracting measles at age three, she studied history at Cambridge University and took a Diploma in Archaeology. She joined Dorothy Garrod excavating paleolithic sites in the Judean Desert in Palestine, where she met her future husband, Derwas Chitty, whom she married in 1943 following a long and successful solo career. She was also very active in Yorkshire archaeology, publishing her ‘Gazetteer of Roman Remains in East Yorkshire’ in 1935, and being appointed a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in the same year. She was elected to membership of the YPS in 1928 as one of the few women, and served as Vice-President from 1950 until her death in 2005. She was appointed Honorary Curator of the YPS’s Yorkshire Museum in 1941 – her gender apparently prevented her becoming Keeper despite an overwhelmingly impressive CV – and was responsible for saving the Roman collection from potential war damage by organising its removal to a safer place of storage in the Yorkshire Dales. She left York in 1945, but was still working as an archaeologist at the age of 95. In 1985 the YPS organised a major symposium on ‘Recent Research in Roman Yorkshire’ (published in 1988) to honour this truly trailblazing female archaeologist.

Roger Pinder

Gallery