Elizabeth Anna Sophia Dawes (1864–1954) was a 19th-century British classical scholar and the first woman to receive a DLitt degree from the University of London.

At this time, the family, consisting of father the Revd John Samuel,[2] mother Anna Sophia Elizabeth (or called Elizabeth Anna Sophia as well, according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)[1] and eight children, live at Newton House on Maple Road in Surbiton.

[3] Her older sister Mary Clara Dawes [Wikidata] was also a scholar, and the first woman to receive a Masters in Arts.

[4] Mary Clara Dawes passed the matriculation examination in January 1879 and placed fourth in the list of masters of arts for the University of London in July 1884.

In addition to a professorship held at Bryn Mawr College in the US during the academic year 1886–87, when she was only 22, she was headmistress of a school in Surrey together with her sister Mary.