Margaret

Margaret Sabina Brittain was an educated woman from Belfast. She got first class Honours in French from the Royal College of Ireland and in 1901 was a French Lecturer and Examiner at the Royal University of Ireland

Margaret S Brittain passed the matriculation examination of the Royal University of Ireland in August 1892 whilst attending Victoria
College, Belfast and got a first class result in the honours French examination. She was also awarded a Scholarship in Modern literature and she retained this scholarship throughout her undergraduate degree. In her first year RUI Examinations in 1893 she obtained First Class Honours in French. She passed her Second University examination in Arts in 1894 and again obtained a First Class Honours in French. In her final B.A. Degree Examination in 1895 she was awarded an overall Second Class Honours in Modern Literature. In 1898 she was awarded an MA Degree, Second Class Honours in Modern Literature. She was an Assistant Examiner in French in the Royal University of Ireland from 1900-1903. She wrote a Historical Primer of French Phonetics and Inflection at that time, published in 1900.

She met Elizabeth Marriage in Heidelberg where presumably both were involved in academic work, and was introduced to Elizabeth’s brother Ernest whom she married in 1904. 

1907 and 1909 saw the publication of two more books, Pillow Lace with Ernest and Elizabeth, and The Sculptures of Chartres Cathedral with Ernest. There were to be no more, as probably the arrival of her two sons in 1909 and 1912 took up to much of her time and attention.