Author: Francis, Anne
Biography:
FRANCIS, Anne, formerly GITTINS (1738-1800: findmypast.com)
She was baptised at South Stoke, Sussex, on 7 Apr. 1738 and buried at Edgehill, Norfolk, on 13 Nov. 1800, her age at death being given as 62--so her year of birth most probably was 1738. Her name is spelled variously Ann and Anne both on public records and on her title-pages. Her parents were Daniel Gittins, rector of South Stoke and vicar of Leominster, and his wife Jane Sapp; she had one sister. Her father gave her an exceptional education and she pursued scholarly interests in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew all her life, although she did not begin publishing herself until middle age. On 25 Oct. 1764 she married Bransby Francis (1740-1829), rector of Edgehill in Norfolk. The couple had four children, of whom two sons survived to maturity. Her literary career began in 1781 with a subscription edition of her annotated "poetical translation" of the Song of Solomon; her final publication, not in this bibliography, was an anti-Jacobin broadside ballad entitled A Plain Address to My Neighbours (1798). She died at Edgehill on 7 Nov. 1800 and was buried there. (findmypast.com 23 Oct. 2021; ODNB 22 Oct. 2021; Orlando; RPW)
Other Names:
- Ann Francis