By Amara Thornton (Research Officer, Ure Museum)

We have been researching Annie Ure’s life and career over the past few months. Earlier this summer, our UROP student Ruth Lloyd created a timeline for Annie Ure’s life. Ruth’s work is the basis of the timeline that follows below. We envision this timeline will be a useful resource for researchers looking into the history of the Museum of Greek Archaeology (now the Ure Museum) and for those wanting to learn more about Annie Ure’s roles as an active researcher and curator. We also expect this resource to grow over time, so we encourage readers to return to it – we will be updating this document to add new links and images from the archive!

31 Jan 1893, Worcester: Annie Dunman Hunt born to George Henry Hunt, watchmaker and jeweller, and Elizabeth Ann (Dunman) Hunt

c. 1907-c. 1910, Birkdale, Southport (near Liverpool): Attends Stoneycroft School, in July 1908 awarded 1st Class Honours in Cambridge Local Examination as a “Junior”.

1911-1914, Reading: Studies Classics at University College Reading on a Minor Arts Scholarship, awarded to one student per year offering remission of tuition fees, for students reading for a degree. Lives at St Andrew’s Hall (formerly East Thorp), a residential house for women at University College Reading. Joins various student groups, including the Women’s Sculling Section (1912-13, Vice Captain, awarded Colours). Takes part events at the Debating Society and the Women’s Christian Union (Swanwick meeting). Serves as Executive Committee President on the on the Council of Association of Women Students (1913-1914), and a member of the Students’ Representative Council (1913-14, member of the SRC Amusements Committee).

Annie Hunt (far right) in 1914 at a meeting at Swanwick where she gave a speech. (Ure family archive)
Annie Hunt (centre row, fourth from left) and her fellow St Andrew’s Hall residents. (Ure family archive)
  • A pdf history of St Andrews Hall is available here.
  • Listen to Annie (Hunt) Ure recalling the impact of suffrage campaigns during her time as a student at University College Reading, and read a blog post about it here.
  • Find out more about what was going on in the Classics Department at this time here.
  • Listen to Annie (Hunt) Ure recalling the Classics Department at University College Reading (audio recording made in 1968).

Annie Ure Atrebates Talk_Classics at UC Reading Transcript

  • In 1913, Ellen (Exall) Barry gave a set of archaeological artefacts said to be from a tomb in Salamis, Cyprus, to University College Reading (13.10.1 to 13.10.27). These were displayed in the College Library along with other archaeological artefacts held by the College, including Egyptian antiquities gifted by Hilda (Urlin) Petrie in 1909 and 1910. Later they became part of the Museum of Greek Archaeology (now the Ure Museum).
  • In 1913/14, Donald Atkinson, Fellow in Roman Archaeology in University College Reading’s Classics Department, conducted excavations at Lowbury Hill, in Berkshire. Annie Hunt visited the excavations as an undergraduate student. The antiquities and human remains discovered there came back to the College, and were put on display in the Library. These were later incorporated into the “Romano-British Museum” at Reading.

1914, London: Passes degree examinations (2nd class honours) to become B. A., awarded by the University of London. On Percy Ure’s recommendation begins studying Russian with a view to further work in classical archaeology.

1915: Becomes Associate of University College Reading.

c. 1915/16, Birkdale, Southport (near Liverpool): Returns to Stoneycroft School to teach. Continues with Russian studies with a view to returning to academic work.

1917, Reading: Postgraduate studies in University College Reading Classics Department as first holder of a postgraduate scholarship from St Andrew’s Hall. Working with Professor of Classics Percy Ure on research on Greek ceramics from sites in “South Russia” (now Ukraine); listed as a member of the Classical Association.

  • Listen to Annie (Hunt) Ure recalling what happened at University College Reading during the First World War.

Annie Ure Atrebates Talk WW1 Reading Transcript

1917/18, Reading: Begins lecturing in the Classics department alongside Katherine McCutcheon; also works as Assistant Librarian at the University Library (until 1922), for which she takes a correspondence course in cataloguing run by the Croydon Public Library. Relinquishes her St Andrew’s Scholarship.

  • More on Annie’s colleagues in the Classics Department here.

30 August 1918, St Dubrecius Church, Whitchurch, Herefordshire: Marriage to Percy Ure.

References
Ure family archive, Ure Museum archive, University College Reading Magazine, Gazette, Annual Reports, University College Reading Tamesis magazine.