Ann Thwaytes
| Ann Thwaytes | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Born |
Ann Hook 2 October 1789 London, England |
| Died | April 1866 (aged 76) Worthing, Sussex, England |
| Resting place | Broadwater and Worthing Cemetery |
| Monuments |
Vaulted grave at cemetery; Blue plaque at Herne Bay. |
| Residence | London and Broadwater |
| Occupation | Philanthropist |
| Known for | Funding Clock Tower, Herne Bay |
| Spouse(s) | William Thwaytes (1749–1834) |
Ann Thwaytes (2 October 1789 – April 1866), known to contemporaries as Mrs Thwaytes, was the wealthy and eccentric English widow of grocer William Thwaytes, owner of Davison, Newman & Co.. She became the benefactress to many causes and funded the construction of the Clock Tower, Herne Bay.
Mrs Thwaytes's mother (d.1803) called herself Mrs Hook, but had no husband. Ann Hook and her sister Sarah were born in London of humble origins either in Islington or near Balls Pond Road, Hackney: Sarah in 1788 and Ann on 2 October 1789. When their mother died, they were obliged, at ages fifteen and fourteen respectively, to take employment. In due course Sarah became housekeeper to William Thwaytes, who was by then the sole owner of Davison, Newman & Co. and a wealthy grocer and tea merchant.
On 19 May 1816 Sarah Hook married Alfred Tebbitt, Thwaytes's chief clerk, at St Martin's in the Fields, Westminster. In 1817 at the age of 28 years Ann married William Thwaytes (1749–1834) who was aged 67. During her marriage, Ann accused her husband of attempting to poison her with mercury. In 1832, during her husband's last illness, Ann developed a mental disorder which began with "low fever" (a 19th-century term for murine typhus) and a subsequent nervous state in which she remained for ten weeks facing the wall whilst believing she was blind. She recovered from the fever, but nevertheless declared that she was "immortal and part of the Trinity," and that she and the couple's family doctor John Simm Smith (1793–1877) had "important work to do." At Guy's Hospital Simm Smith had studied alongside John Keats and had known him well, and was to be the grandfather of Gerard Manley Hopkins.
Ann's sister Sarah's husband Mr Tebbitt died in 1833, leaving her unsupported with seven children. Ann's husband died some months later in 1834 aged 85 years, leaving her a fortune of around £500,000 and no children. William Thwaytes's Will makes her a "joint executrix and main beneficiary" and describes her as his "beloved wife" in spite of her earlier suspicion that he was poisoning her. Ann soon became "very close" to her London surgeon Simm Smith. After her husband died, she paid Smith £2,000 per year and a total of £50,000 in gifts to temporarily give up his London medical practice to manage her business affairs. Simm was living in Croydon with his family and visiting Ann fortnightly, and Ann sometimes paid him "very large sums of money." Before her husband was even buried she had made her Will, leaving everything to Simm Smith except a small annuity for Sarah Tebbitt and her children. Soon after the funeral she was befriended by Simm's brother Samuel; he was a stockbroker whose wife had died, leaving him with two daughters and a debt of £3,000 which Ann paid.
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