Mary Anne HARE [26891]

  General Notes:

Mary Anne Hare
Marital Status: Single
Marriage Date: 12 May 1840
Marriage Place: St. George-Brandon Hill, Bristol, Gloucester, England
Spouse: Alexander Mckenzie Downie
FHL Film Number: 1596352
Reference ID: Pg 19 #37

Mary Anne Downie
Estimated birth year: abt 1818
Registration Year: 1896
Registration Quarter: Jan-Feb-Mar
Age at Death: 78
Registration district: Barton Regis
Inferred County: Gloucestershire
Volume: 6a
Page: 48

Downie Dame Mary Anne of 1 Hanbury Rd, Clifton Bristol widow died 17 March 1896. Probate London 8 May 1896 to Janet Henrietta Collings (wife of Henry Hyatt Collings) and Alexander Francis McKenzie Downie solicitor. Effects £432 12s 7d.
National Probate Calendar.

Interestingly Dr Stanley Lapidge when transcribing the letter below found a reference to Mary Anne's husbands death. The letter is by Maria Knottesford nee Downing to her neice Catherine Mary Downing, the reference emboldened.

Feb[ruary] 19 1852
My own dearest Kate,
Again I am going to teaze you with a commission from your uncle - when he sent the money to Mr Goymer¹, he forgot to add that for the carriage of the books to London, which G. paid, & he wishes to repay him, & will thank you very much when you see Mr G. to advance the sum for him, & to tell us the amount - the 12 books turned out acceptably for already 4 are disposed of.
(Page 2)
Great indeed is the mercy that has preserved dear Edward² from contagion, & that has granted you all safety thro' the winter, with dear Ellen's³ improved health!
Fanny Ann⁴ is come to Elmdon, & finds her Father, thank God, better than we could have expected - little George⁵ is with her - the smallpox was much at Perth, & all the children were vaccinated - only Eddy⁶ was found unsafe - dear Edward has suffered acutely from a carbuncle in his neck, & was only recovered when F.A. left him last week.
Have you heard that Mr
(Page 3)
Prowett⁷ was taken to his blessed eternal rest last Sunday sennight? His dear wife had been seriously ill for weeks, & they were just rejoicing for her amendment, & dreaming no danger in him, when his disorder suddenly encreased [sic] on the Saturday, & he was insensible thro' the remaining hours? He had preached with more than his usual energy that day fortnight, from "In whom we rejoice, tho' now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness, etc."
This morning too an account has come of the death of dear Mrs Smith of Goldicote near us - a bitter trial to her attached husband, to whom she was his entire earthly comfort!
(Page 4)
The last accounts of Joseph Dewe⁸ are better. All well here.
Mr Sherrard⁹ at Wilmcote has had small pox, & I fear talks of leaving - the house is so inconvenient for a family, & the dirt so great as they keep no carriage, that they seem to be making up their minds to go away.
Lady Downie¹⁰ (Mrs Hare's daughter who was Bridget Bowles) has lost her husband in Germany, & is in great grief.
I trust your reports of Miss Stratford continue to improve?
Much love from all to all.
Your own tenderly attached aunt M.F.K.

Footnotes,
1. Mr Goymer was a bookseller in Stoke by Nayland, from whom M F K and her husband sometimes purchased hymn books etc. He is referred to in these letters from time to time.
2. This probably refers to C M L's son Edward Liveing (TKC 100).
3. C M L's youngest child, Ellen Liveing (TKC 109).
4. "Fanny Ann" (also referred to as "F.A.") is M F K's daughter-in-law, Frances Anne Fortescue (née Spooner) (TKC 14679). At the beginning of 1851 Fanny Anne and her husband, Edward Bowles Knottesford Fortescue (TKC 9950), M F K's son, had moved from near Alveston to Perth, where Edward had been appointed as Dean of the new Cathedral. At the time of this letter Fanny Anne has returned from Perth to visit her elderly father, the Revd. William Spooner (TKC 14680), who was Archdeacon of Coventry and Rector of Elmdon (near the site of the present-day Birmingham Airport).
5. Edward and Fanny Anne's son George Knottesford Fortescue (TKC 14690), who was then about 4 ½ years old.
6. Edward and Fanny Anne's eldest child, Edward Francis Knottesford Fortescue (TKC 14684), who was then nearly eleven years old.
7. The Reverend Charles Prowett (TKC 21846) was the Rector of Stapleford, in Hertfordshire. He was married to Cecilia Wolseley (TKC 21845), and appears to have died on the 8^th or 9^th February, 1852, aged about 71 years. If he did die on a Sunday, as M F K asserts, then the date must have been the 9^th February.
8. The Revd. Joseph Dewe (TKC 9952) was M F K's son-in-law, as he was married to M F K's elder daughter Frances Catherine Fortescue (TKC 9951). He was Rector of Rockland St Mary, in Norfolk.
9. The Reverend George Sherrard became the parish priest of Wilmcote after M F K's son Edward Bowles Knottesford Fortescue
(TKC 9950) left Wilmcote, at the beginning of 1851 in order to become Dean of Perth Cathedral, in Scotland. Fr Sherrard complained bitterly about the state of the Vicarage, both to the Bishop of Worcester and also to Edward himself, in letters which were written during 1852, but he did not in fact leave. He was still priest of Wilmcote when he died on the 21^st May, 1857.
10. Lady Downie, nee Mary Anne Hare, [26906].

Mary married Dr Sir Alexander Mackenzie DOWNIE M.D. [26890] [MRIN: 9664], son of Rev Alexander DOWNIE [26897] and Janet McKINNON [26898], on 12 May 1840 in Bristol GLS. (Dr Sir Alexander Mackenzie DOWNIE M.D. [26890] was born about 1811 in Rossshire SCT and died on 3 Feb 1852 in Frankfurt Hessen Germany.)