Ann Warden Spencer, Lady Spencer (née Liddon; c. 1793 – 19 July 1855) was the daughter of Captain Matthew Liddon and Ann Warden. She was the wife of

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Sir Richard Spencer.

Early life

Ann's mother was the

Lady of the Manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as seig ...

Charmouth Charmouth is a village and civil parish in west Dorset, England. The village is situated on the mouth of the River Char, around north-east of Lyme Regis. Dorset County Council estimated that in 2013 the population of the civil parish was 1,310 ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

who married Matthew Liddon on 22 June 1789 in the presence of her father, the ill-fated James Warden. They had at least five children, James (born 1790), Ann (1793), Sophia (1795), Lucy (1798) and Matthew (1800). The Liddons were an important family in

Axminster Axminster is a market town and civil parish on the eastern border of the county of Devon in England. It is from the county town of Exeter. The town is built on a hill overlooking the River Axe which heads towards the English Channel at Axmou ...

, where they are shown as Farmers and Clothiers.

Marriage

At the time of Ann's marriage on 31 August 1812 to Captain Richard Spencer, a distinguished post captain in the

, at St Matthew's Church, Charmouth, they were possibly living at Langmoor Manor. She was seventeen years old and Richard Spencer was thirty-three. Ann's marriage portion was £2,000, a sizeable sum for those days and when her husband died in 1839, this amount was still intact. Ann and Richard settled on a farm at

Lyme Regis Lyme Regis is a town in west Dorset, England, west of Dorchester and east of Exeter. Sometimes dubbed the "Pearl of Dorset", it lies by the English Channel at the Dorset–Devon border. It has noted fossils in cliffs and beaches on the Herita ...

, Dorset, for seventeen years, during which nine of their ten children were born. Ann was to be one of the earliest emigrants to Australia when she left England in 1833 with her nine children. By then she was Lady Spencer and accompanying her husband Captain Sir Richard Spencer, he was taking up his appointment of

Government Resident A resident minister, or resident for short, is a government official required to take up permanent residence in another country. A representative of his government, he officially has diplomatic functions which are often seen as a form of indir ...

at Albany.

Later life

Ann's family lived at Strawberry Hill Farm in Albany. Of their daughters, Eliza Lucy was married to Sir

George Grey Sir George Grey, KCB (14 April 1812 – 19 September 1898) was a British soldier, explorer, colonial administrator and writer. He served in a succession of governing positions: Governor of South Australia, twice Governor of New Zealand, Go ...

, and Augusta was married to George Edward Egerton-Warburton, a pioneer settler near Mount Barker. Ann spent the remainder of her life in Western Australia, dying on 19 July 1855 at

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

. Her remains were shipped to Albany for interment.

Notes

References

* John Marshall, ''Royal Naval Biography'', London, 1829; p. 47 * Sophie C. Ducker editor, ''The contented botanist: letters of W.H. Harvey about Australia and the Pacific'', Melbourne University Press at the Miegunyah Press, 1988;

External links

History of Charmouth: The Liddon Family 1787-1853
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spencer, Ann Warden 1793 births 1855 deaths People from Dorset Wives of knights 19th-century English people Settlers of Western Australia English emigrants to Australia 19th-century Australian people People from Albany, Western Australia History of Western Australia Women of the Victorian era