Anna Charlier

Anna Albertina Constantia Charlier (English /ˈʃɑːrli.eɪ/) (25 July 1871, Norra Åby, Skåne County, Sweden – 1949) was a Swedish woman, today most commonly remembered as the fiancée of Nils Strindberg, participant in the North Pole expedition of S. A. Andrée in 1897.

Anna Charlier was one of eleven siblings and lost her parents early. She worked as a governess and met Nils Strindberg, who was a houseteacher for one of the families she worked for. She played the piano, he the violin. Anna and Nils Strindberg became engaged on 26 October 1896, eight months before the expedition left for Svalbard.

The expedition was not heard of in the following years and was presumed to have ended in disaster. Anna emigrated to the United States in 1910 and married Gilbert Henry Conserray Hawtrey. They moved to England in 1914.

Miss Ulla Strindberg – the late Nils Strindberg was her uncle – visited Anna in Torquay in England in 1947. She said the following about the visit:

"Anna's husband Gilbert Hawtrey was a wonderful human being who tried in all possible ways to help his sorrow-ridden wife to forget. But it was all in vain. Anna could not forget."

Anna's home was filled with youth portraits of the missing Strindberg.

In 1930, when the remains of the expedition were found, Anna happened to be in Sweden. Unable to stay for the funeral, she sent a wreath to her late fiancé. She later received Nils Strindberg's letters to her that he had written during his voyage over the ice. It was Tore Strindberg – Nils' brother – who sent them after they had been interpreted (the letters were stenographed).

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