Ann Howe (c.1802–1842) was a newspaper proprietor in the colony of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

who published a paper which vigorously supported the liberal Governor

Richard Bourke General Sir Richard Bourke, KCB (4 May 1777 – 12 August 1855), was an Irish-born British Army officer who served as Governor of New South Wales from 1831 to 1837. As a lifelong Whig (Liberal), he encouraged the emancipation of convicts and ...

and represented the

emancipist An emancipist was a convict sentenced and transported under the convict system to Australia, who had been given a conditional or absolute pardon. The term was also used to refer to those convicts whose sentences had expired, and might sometimes ...

(ex-convict) voice. She was born in Sydney, the child of two ex-convicts: Sarah Bird, the colony's first female publican, and John Morris. In December 1821 she married Robert Howe, the son and heir of George Howe, an ex-convict and successful publisher of the Sydney Gazette and printer of government publications, who had recently died. Ann bore Robert four children and raised his son by a convict woman. After he drowned in 1829, she prevented the sale of the Sydney Gazette to its rival the Sydney Herald by her husband's executors, then took an active role in running the paper. She claimed the executors, Richard Jones, and Rev.

Ralph Mansfield Ralph Mansfield (12 March 1799 – 1 September 1880) was a Methodist missionary and newspaper editor in colonial Australia. Born in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, son of Ralph Mansfield, an earthenware manufacturer, and his wife Ann, ''née'' ...

(editor of the paper), had run the business down and were about to accept a low price when she persuaded a reluctant Jones to let her manage it. She aligned the paper with Bourke, and against the conservative 'exclusives' (who were opposed to wider democracy in the colony and participation of ex-convicts in public life). The exclusives were represented by the Herald. She appointed as editor a ticket-of-leave convict, William Augustus Watt, who wrote editorials against the spirit of slavery and attempted to expose abuses of some of the exclusives, in particular

James Mudie James Mudie (1779–1852) was a Scottish-born free settler of Australia who became an officer of marines, large landowner, and author. He was the son of John and Margaret Mudie of Forfarshire, Scotland. Life in the military Mudie's life in t ...

, a bitter opponent of Bourke's. In retaliation, Watt was brought before the bench on trumped up charges, but Bourke had him removed to

Port Macquarie Port Macquarie is a coastal town in the local government area of Port Macquarie-Hastings. It is located on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane. The town is located on the Tasman Sea co ...

, where the Howes had a land grant on the Macleay River. In 1836 she married Watt in Port Macquarie, although Mudie maliciously tried to prevent the marriage by claiming that Watt was of bad character. Richard Jones then used his power as executor and of guarantor of outstanding loans to transfer ownership of the paper to Howe's eldest son, Anne's stepson, Robert Charles. Watt drowned in 1837 in Port Macquarie. In 1840, Ann married Thomas Salmon, a butcher, and lived with him in George Street, Sydney. She died in 1842.Sandy Blair 'HOWE, ANN (c.1802-1842)'
in Australian Dictionary of Biography online edition

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howe, Ann 1802 births 1842 deaths 19th-century Australian businesswomen 19th-century Australian businesspeople 19th-century Australian newspaper publishers (people)