Person:Ann Stanton (7)

Childhood

Ann Stanton was baptised on 5th July 1747 at Hinxworth in Hertfordshire, daughter of Eleanor Stanton, formerly Ablet, and her husband Edmund Stanton, a carpenter. Ann's father owned the building which is today the Three Horseshoes public house, although it is not clear whether it was a public house at this time. Ann was the youngest of five children, but three of her older siblings appear to have died before she was born, making her effectively the younger of two siblings, with her surviving brother Francis being ten years older than her.

Ann's mother Eleanor died in 1765, when Ann was 18 years old.

Adulthood

Ann was married at Hinxworth on 1st July 1771, aged about 24 years old. Her husband was a blacksmith named William Bryant from the neighbouring parish of Ashwell (where co-incidentally he had been baptised on the same day Ann was being baptised in Hinxworth). They settled in Hinxworth where they had seven children baptised between 1772 and 1790, although one died as a baby.

Ann’s father Edmund died in 1781. Under his will he left Ann “my house next the Pea’s Gate which is now a publick house”, associated outbuildings and a piece of land called Pond Orchard in Hinxworth, and two cottages at Bassingbourn in Cambridgeshire. Her brother Francis also received a house and land at Hinxworth, which appear to have adjoined the house left to Ann, with provision that one of the outbuildings should be split between them. Later land records suggest that the house Francis inherited was the Three Horseshoes, whilst Ann’s descendants lived on the adjoining piece of land later rebuilt as 8 High Street and Gate Cottage. Ann acted as sole executor for her father’s will, which is slightly unusual given that Francis was a son and older. Perhaps Edmund felt Ann’s interests may not be fully met if Francis was executor.

Ann died in 1793, aged 46, being buried at Hinxworth on 21st January 1793. Her six surviving children were aged between twenty and two when she died. William survived her by nearly ten years.

1. ↑ Church of England. Parish registers of Hinxworth, 1551-1985. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   1747 / Anne the Daughter of Edmund Stanton and Eleanor his Wife was baptiz[e]d the fifth day of July

   This baptism can be linked to the Ann Stanton who married William Bryant on the basis of the probate record for Ann's father Edmund, which explicitly refers to Ann wife of William Bryant as being Edmund's daughter.

2. ↑ Church of England. Parish registers of Hinxworth, 1551-1985. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   Buried Ann Briant Jan[uary] 21st 1793 Wife of William Briant