Author: Thomas, Ann
Biography:
THOMAS, Ann (fl 1784-94)
Her birth name and background are as yet unknown, but by 1784 when she published her Poems on Various Subjects by subscription she was already a widow. Her husband had been a naval officer and there are many other officers, from admirals downwards, on her impressive subscription list. The rest of the list is local, with many subscribers from Plymouth where the volume was published. The opening poem is a tribute to her village of Millbrook, Cornwall; like several others it is addressed to a friend, “Laura.” In a poem about Shetland she reveals that the “guardian of [her] youth”—possibly a nurse?--came from “Greenwall” (Greenwell) there. Most of the contents have to do with naval engagements and ships lost at sea. There do not seem to be any references to her husband or to children, but two poems about elaborate needlework suggest a genteel education. The book is dedicated to the Right Honourable Lady Eliot of Port-Eliot, as was Mrs. Thomas’s next venture, the novel Adolphus de Biron (1794): she was Catherine (Elliston) Eliot (d 1804), wife of the first Baron Eliot, Edward Craggs-Eliot (1727-1804). The surname is so common that no more specific identification is possible. (ancestry.com 15 Aug 2024; findmypast.com 15 Aug. 2024; EN1; “Eliot, Edward Craggs- ,” ODNB 15 Aug. 2024)
Other Names:
- Mrs. Ann Thomas