Maitland was born in 1858 and in 1880 she met her future husband in the British Museum Reading Room and they continued to meet at Karl Marx's house.
[2] Her grandchildren include the town and park planner Ann MacEwen.
[1] Her friends included her sister in law Ada Wallas[3] and the socialist Eleanor Marx, whom she knew through a Shakespeare reading group attended by Karl Marx, and Amy Levy.
[5] Many of the British Library manuscripts have been digitized and can be viewed at Europeana.
[6] Her husband was a member of the Rhymers' Club, but Maitland could not join because of sexual discrimination.