Blue Plaques Ann of Swansea



This is my second article regarding the blue plaques in Swansea this one is situated on the Civic Centre facing the sea and is for Ann Julia Hatton. She is being commemorated for being a local poet, novelist and managing the Swansea Bathing House




Ann had a very colourful life before she came to Swansea. Born in 1764, Ann Kemble, was the daughter of Roger Kemble. She was one of 12 children born into a Kemble theatrical family, her father was an actor-manager of a touring troupe, Ann’s siblings included, Sarah Siddons and John Philip Kemble who achieved fame on the stage of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.


Swansea Civic Centre
She was apprenticed to a mantua maker – an early term for a dress-maker before she went on the stage. At the age of 19, she married the actor, C. Curtis, who turned out to be married already. What a rotter. Ann was in financial straits and attempted suicide in Westminster Abbey, afterwards she became a “model” in the notorious London bagnio (bathing house) and brothel areas. In 1792 she got married for a second time, to William Hatton. The following year the couple embarked on voyage to America.

On returning to Britain in 1799, the couple settled in Swansea. They first kept the bathing house near the sea front, till William’s death in 1806. After this time, 1806-1809, Ann kept a dancing school in Kidwelly, Carmarthen-shire. Ann is remembered from 1809 to her death in 1838, as a well-known writer. During the period 1810-1831, she wrote poetry and 14 gothic themed novels under the pseudonym of “Ann of Swansea”. Ann is buried in St. Matthews Church, High Street. A portrait of Ann (left), painted during 1835, aged 71, by William Watkeys is held at Swansea Museum.



Copyright – The Bay Magazine – October  2017

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reader Feedback

Image
Following April’s article Per Ardua ad Astra , two readers have been in touch. Mary Johnstone contacted me via email regarding her father, Hubert John Lewis who served with the RAF Hubert was born in 1923 and was 16 at the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939. He was employed as an Apprentice Metallurgical Chemist and was living with his parents, Philip and Beatrice Lewis at 24 Elwy Crescent, Swansea. (Left) Herbert John Lewis (Right) With his crew and ground crew with kind permission Mary Johnstone Joining the RAF in 1942, 19 year old Hubert undertook his training at RAF Juby, in the Isle of Man. He joined the No 5 Bombing and Gunnery School where training was undertaken on the Handley Page Hereford aircraft. On completion of training, Air Gunner Sergeant Lewis was a Pilot Officer for a period of 6 months, which followed automatic promotion to Flying Officer. Hubert served with the 102 Squadron, based at RAF Pocklington, Yorkshire, which...
Read more

Birth Certificates

Image
July 1st 2019, marked the 182th anniversary of the introduction of the National Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths in 1837. This first article will be covering  Birth Certificates , where I will be using examples of people from Swansea to give some colour and add some meat to the bones. So let’s go back to the year of 1837, and paint a picture of what was happening nationally.  Poor  King William IV  died of a heart attack on June 20th at Windsor, with the crown passing to his niece,  Victoria . The Prime Minister was  Lord Melbourne  of the Whig party. At home, Swansea’s population had risen from 6,000 in 1801 to 17,000 in 1851. Swansea can boast of the first newspaper,  The Cambrian , which was published in Wales, 1804. A good read! Before 1837 baptisms, marriages and burials were recorded in parish registers. At this time, there were only two churches within the Swansea area, St John-juxta-Swansea, Hafod – with registe...
Read more

Swansea and WWI

Image
2018 marks the centenary anniversary of the Armistice of the First World War, November 1918. Here Charles looks at the life of marine engineer William John Johnstone and the steamer S.S. Kingsley   The steamer S.S. Kingsley was constructed in 1881, by T. & W. Smith, of North Shields; it weighed in at 633 tons. By 1918, it was managed by Harries Bros. & Co, Swansea, of Cambrian Street. The S.S. Kingsley was attacked and damaged on the morning of the 2 January 1918, by U-95, 3 miles east of Rundelstone Buoy, Cornwall. A few days after the centenary anniversary of the confrontation, Mrs Lisa Johnstone-Davies contacted me, with a tale of her great-grandfather, William John Johnstone. I carried out some research using various sources, and can now paint a picture of what occurred on that fateful morning. During the 1911 Census, William John Johnstone, (age 27), who filled in the census and called himself William Alexander, is living at 22 Calland Street, L...
Read more