Anne Margaret Coke, Viscountess Anson (25 January 1779 – 23 May 1843),[b] was an English painter; the daughter of Thomas Coke, 1st Earl of Leicester of Holkham; and wife of Thomas Anson, 1st Viscount Anson.

Personal life

Lady Anson was born at Holkham Hall[3] on 25 January 1779[4]: 65 [5]: 233 [b] to Thomas Coke (who in 1834 was raised to the peerage as Earl of Leicester) and Jane Dutton. She was baptised Ann Margaret Cooke on 23 February 1779.[a][1] Anne had an older sister, Jane, born in 1777, and a younger sister, Elizabeth, born in 1795,[4]: 65  one year after Anne was married. Jane was married by that time, too.[5]: 411  Her mother was an abolitionist and spent her allowance on donations to the poor and theater tickets for her servants. Jane Dutton also believed in the importance of a good education for her children.[4]: 65 

At the age of 15, Anne Margaret Coke was married to 27-year-old Thomas Anson, 1st Viscount Anson, in September 1794. He was a member of parliament, worth £22,000 (equivalent to £3,192,563 in 2023) per year, and heir to Shugborough estate in Staffordshire.[4]: 67  The Duke of Sussex said that he was a "true manly, noble, splendid fellow, possessing much of the real English character, sound sense, and although perhaps hurried away a little too much by country sports, has a great deal of good in him."[4]: 67–68 

According to Susanna Wade Martins, Anne was described as "thin, excitable, energetic, never quiet, constantly getting into quarrels, but always ready to help others.[4]: 68  Dawson Turner described her as a woman of sweet character and a pleasing personality.[4]: 68 

Anson gave birth to eleven children, four by the time she was 20 years of age.[4]: 68 

She died 23 May 1843[7] in London.[3] Her tomb, in Colwich, Surrey, was sculpted by John Francis.[8]

Artist

Susanna Wade Martins in Coke of Norfolk (1754–1842) states that Anne was likely taught to draw by Thomas Gainsborough in Norfolk and London. One of her paintings of a milk girl was made after one of Gainsborough's paintings. She was said to have made a painting of a nest of owls that was considered "very well done" by Benjamin Haydon.[4]: 67  Mrs. Powys, who visited Shugborough in 1800, stated that competent works by Anson were in every room of the house, including three full-length paintings of her children. [4]: 67 

Notes

  1. ^ a b Cooke or Cook is the archaic spelling of Coke, which is pronounced Cook.
  2. ^ a b c Author Christopher Wright and the BBC Your Paintings site states that she was born in 1778.[3][6]

References

  1. ^ a b Norfolk, England, Transcripts of Church of England Baptism, Marriage and Burial Registers, 1600–1935
  2. ^ Smets, A. A. (1867). Catalogue of the private collection of Autographs. p. 28. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  3. ^ a b c Christopher Wright (2006). British and Irish Paintings in Public Collections: An Index of British and Irish Oil Paintings by Artists Born Before 1870 in Public and Institutional Collections in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Yale University Press. p. 80. ISBN 0-300-11730-2.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Susanna Wade Martins (1 February 2010). Coke of Norfolk (1754-1842): A Biography. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84383-531-8.
  5. ^ a b Anna Maria Wilhelmina Stirling (1908). Coke of Norfolk and His Friends: The Life of Thomas William Coke, First Earl of Leicester of Holkham, Containing an Account of His Ancestry, Surroundings, Public Services & Private Friendships & Including Many Unpublished Letters from Noted Men of His Day, English & American. John Lane. p. 411.
  6. ^ a b c d "Painted by Anne Margaret Coke (Viscountess Anson)". Your Paintings. BBC. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  7. ^ George Thomas Keppel Earl of Albemarle (1876). Fifty Years of My Life. H. Holt. p. 161.
  8. ^ Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851 by Rupert Gunnis p.158

Media related to Anne Margaret Coke, Viscountess Anson at Wikimedia Commons

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