Katharine Dorothea Ewart (November 26, 1870 – May 21, 1956) was a British historian and author of books on Italian history.

She was born at the vicarage inBishops Cannings, Wiltshire on 26 November 1870, the daughter of William Ewart (1818 – 1873), vicar of Bishops Cannings, and his wife, Katharine, née Matthews (1840 – 1918). After her father's death, her widowed mother settled inBristol where Dorothea was educated atClifton High School for Girls. She won aClothworkers' scholarship atSomerville College, Oxford, where she tookfirst-class honours in modern history in 1893.^[1] She served as secretary for the Oxford Association for Mental Welfare.^[2]

On 12 December 1899, she married Horace Middleton Vernon, an Oxford scholar ofphysiology.^[1] The couple settled in Oxford and had five children, of whom a son and three daughters survived to adulthood.^[1] Their eldest daughterMagdalen and their sonPhilip both later became eminent professors ofpsychology.^[1][3]

Her first work was a biography ofCosimo de' Medici published in 1899 as part ofMacmillan'sForeign Statesmen Series.^[4] In 1909 she published a survey of Italian history entitledItaly 1494–1790, part of theCambridge Historical Series,^[5] which was reviewed as a welcome contribution to the subject.^[6] In 1909 she also wrote a short history of theOxford University Museum with her husband.^[7] She coauthoredItaly, Medieval and Modern, a History, published in 1917.^[8] Her final work wasThe Story of Italy, published in 1939.^[9]

She was widowed by her husband's death in 1951.^[1] She died in the mental hospital at Wyke House,^[10] Syon Lane, Isleworth, Middlesex, on 21 May 1956.^[1]

• 1870 births
• 1956 deaths
• 20th-century British historians
• British women historians
• Alumni of Somerville College, Oxford

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the ODNB
• CS1: long volume value