Author: Day, Esther
Biography:
DAY, Esther, formerly Milnes (1752-92)
She was baptised in the Presbyterian chapel in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, on 15 Oct. 1752, the daughter of Richard Milnes (1704-57) and his wife Elizabeth Hawksworth (1712-57). Her parents had married in Lincoln’s Inn chapel, London, in 1731 and her elder sister, Elizabeth, was born in 1734. There appear to have been no other surviving children and Esther became an heiress on the death of her parents. Elizabeth Milnes, who married Robert Lowndes (c. 1735-1820) in 1761 and died in 1769, was the mother of Thomas Lowndes (q.v.). In about 1776 Esther met Thomas Day (q.v.), an ardent follower of Rousseau and R. L. Edgeworth who had long been seeking a wife willing to submit to his teachings. They were married in Bath on 7 Aug. 1778 and in 1779 moved to Stapleford Abbots, Essex, before settling on an estate in Anningsley, Surrey, in 1783. They had no children. Thomas Day died at Bear Hill, Berkshire, on 28 Sept. 1789 after being thrown from his horse; he was buried at St. Mary’s, Wargrave, Berkshire. Esther died on 12 June 1792 and was buried with her husband on 21 June. After numerous legacies, the bulk of her estate passed to Thomas’s mother, Jane Phillips, and to her nephews Milnes (d 1800) and Thomas Lowndes. (ODNB [for Thomas Day] 3 July 2024; ancestry.co.uk 3 July 2024; findmypast.co.uk 3 July 2024)
Other Names:
- Mrs. Day