Author: Davis, Mary Ann
Biography:
DAVIS, Mary Ann (c. 1801-74: ancestry.co.uk)
The Bodleian library copy of The Wild Flower Wreath is inscribed to the Rev. Edward Madeley “from the Authoress who holds an exalted estimate of his friendship, Ministerial Character, and attainments.” The same copy has “Mrs. Goadsby” written under the author’s name on the title page. This allows for a confident identification of her as Mary Ann Davis, daughter of Francis Davis (b 1773), a printer at 5 Hanging Ditch in Manchester from at least 1807. Her mother’s name is not known. Her date and place of birth are given as 1801 at Worcester in the 1871 Census. Mary Ann married John Goadsby on 15 Oct. 1850 in a service conducted at the New Jerusalem or Swedenborgian church in Birmingham by the Rev. Edward Madeley. John Goadsby (b 1793) was identified as a druggist when both he and Francis Davis were baptised in the New Jerusalem church in Salford, Manchester, by the Rev. Robert Hindmarsh on 7 Jan. 1816. Goadsby later had a fustian dye business and he had been married twice before; with his second wife, Hannah (d 1847), he had three children. He died on 22 Nov. 1869 leaving effects of under £6,000. Mary Ann was recorded in the 1871 Census as a widow managing Goadsby’s business from Holly House, Fallowfield, Manchester. She died at home on 20 Aug. 1874 and was buried in the parish churchyard at Fallowfield on 26 Aug. She left effects of under £9,000, which were distributed to various charities. (ancestry.co.uk 23 June 2024; findmypast.co.uk 23 June 2024; BBTI)