# Maria Wilman > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Maria_Wilman > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Maria_Wilman.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Wilman > Source revision: 1327270806 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Maria Wilman** (29 April 1867 – 9 November 1957) was a South African geologist and [botanist](/source/Botanist). She was the first Director of the [McGregor Museum](/source/McGregor_Museum) in [Kimberley](/source/Kimberley,_Northern_Cape), [South Africa](/source/South_Africa) and the second female South African to attend the [University of Cambridge](/source/University_of_Cambridge) in [England](/source/England).[1][2] Wilman maintained a lifelong interest in [botany](/source/Botany), establishing both a [museum](/source/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](/source/Flowering_plant) 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](/source/Beaufort_West) on 29 April 1867, Wilman was the fifth of Herbert Wilman and Engela Johanna Neethling's nine daughters.[3] Her father was an immigrant to South Africa from [Yorkshire](/source/Yorkshire) and served as an MP for Beaufort West in the [Cape Parliament](/source/Parliament_of_the_Cape_of_Good_Hope) of Prime Minister [John Molteno](/source/John_Molteno).[4] ## Education Wilman first matriculated at the Good Hope Seminary in [Cape Town](/source/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](/source/Mineralogy), and [chemistry](/source/Chemistry) at [Newnham College, Cambridge](/source/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.[2] In 1939 she was granted an honorary doctorate in law from the [University of the Witwatersrand](/source/University_of_the_Witwatersrand) in [Johannesburg](/source/Johannesburg).[2] ## On the staff of the South African Museum Wilman's museum career began when she returned to South Africa from England and worked as a volunteer in the Geology Department at the [South African Museum](/source/Iziko_South_African_Museum) in [Cape Town](/source/Cape_Town). Because she did not have a formal degree and her father did not approve of her earning a salary, Wilman was unable to accept payment for her work at the museum.[2] Nonetheless, she continued to work there in a volunteer capacity until 1902 when she was officially named an assistant in the Geology Department.[4] While at the South African Museum, Wilman worked with [Louis Albert Péringuey](/source/Louis_Albert_P%C3%A9ringuey). Péringuey's interest in the [San](/source/Bushmen) people and culture allowed her to take several research trips to the [Northern Cape](/source/Northern_Cape) and [Zimbabwe](/source/Zimbabwe).[2] In 1906 she undertook an important journey up to Kimberley, the [Vryburg](/source/Vryburg) region and further north, collecting specimens, and amassing data on [rock engravings](/source/Petroglyphs) which was the start of a project culminating nearly three decades later in her publication *Rock engravings of Griqualand West and Bechuanaland* (1933), published in Cambridge.[3] It remained the standard text on rock art in South Africa for nearly five decades.[2] Wilman continued to study rock art, as well as the culture of the San and [Khoikhoi](/source/Khoikhoi) peoples for the rest of her life.[2] ## Director of the McGregor Museum in Kimberley Wilman was appointed as the first Director of the newly founded McGregor Museum in Kimberley in 1908. She also founded the [herbarium](/source/Herbarium) there in the same year and began to cultivate its collection of regional plant life, which includes important type specimens from Northern Cape.[5] She fostered relationships with local collectors on specimens, like [Constance Georgina Adams](/source/Constance_Georgina_Adams), with whom she developed a long term friendship.[6] Her botanical work at the McGregor led to her publication *Preliminary Checklist of the Flowering Plants and Ferns of Griqualand West* (1946).[5] She also introduced [mesquite](/source/Mesquite) and [kurrajong](/source/Brachychiton) trees to Kimberley and shared South African grass seeds with institutions and organisations in the United States.[4] Some have attributed these grass species with resuscitating some of the [Dust Bowl](/source/Dust_Bowl) areas in the country, particular in the state of [Texas](/source/Texas).[3] Wilman stepped down from the directorship of the McGregor in 1947, but continued to work on her geology and botany studies there.[7] 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.[3] ## Legacy Several plant species have been named in her honour, including Wilman lovegrass (*Eragrostis superb*), [*Watsonia wilmaniae*](/source/Watsonia_(plant)), *Stapelia wilmaniae*, *Ruschia wilmaniae*, *Hereroa wilmaniae*, and *Nananthus wilmaniae*.[5] ## References 1. Carlstein, Brigit 2007. Miss Maria Wilman: 1867–1957. In Hart, R. (ed) 2007. *Chapters from the past: 100 years of the McGregor Museum, 1907–2007*. Kimberley: McGregor Museum 1. ["Maria Wilman"](http://www.sarada.co.za/people_and_institutions/researchers/maria_wilman/) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20120820070722/http://www.sarada.co.za/people_and_institutions/researchers/maria_wilman/) 20 August 2012 at the Wayback Machine (2012). *The African Rock Art Digital Archive*. Retrieved 24 September 2012. 1. ["Maria Wilman"](https://books.google.com/books?id=rl8nkyID3WsC&dq=maria%20wilman&pg=PA268) (1995). In *New Dictionary of South African Biography*. Pretoria: HSRC. Retrieved 24 September 2012. 1. "Maria Wilman" (1981). In *Botanical Exploration: South Africa*. Retrieved 24 September 2012. 1. ["The KMG Herbarium: An Ark of Plant Diversity"](http://www.museumsnc.co.za/aboutus/depts/botany/BotPDF/KMGHerbariumArk.pdf) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20171021060201/http://www.museumsnc.co.za/aboutus/depts/botany/BotPDF/KMGHerbariumArk.pdf) 21 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine (n.d.). *Botany Department: McGregor Museum Kimberley*. Retrieved 24 September 2012. 1. Rall, Maureen (2002). *Petticoat Pioneers: The History of the Pioneer Women who Lived on the Diamond Fields in the Early Years*. Kimberley: Kimberley Africana Library. p. 117. ISBN 978-0-62027-613-9. 1. ["Homepage"](http://www.museumsnc.co.za/home.html) (2007). *McGregor Museum.* Retrieved 24 September 2012. ## External links - View Wilman's ["Catalogue of Printed Books, Papers and Maps Relating to the Geology and Mineralogy of South Africa"](https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/36986923) at [Biodiversity Heritage Library](/source/Biodiversity_Heritage_Library). - View Wilman's ["Notes on Some Bushman Paintings in the Thaba Bosigo District, Basutoland"](https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/6924924) at [Biodiversity Heritage Library](/source/Biodiversity_Heritage_Library). - View Wilman's ["The Engraved Rock of Loe, Bechuanaland Protectorate"](https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/6925989) at [Biodiversity Heritage Library](/source/Biodiversity_Heritage_Library). --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Maria Wilman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Wilman) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Wilman?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.