Abigail Gawthern

Abigail Gawthern
Abigail Gawthern
Born	Abigail Frost; 7 July 1757; Prob. Nottingham
Died	7 January 1822 (aged 64); Low Pavement, Nottingham
Nationality	United Kingdom
Known for	her diary[1]
Spouse(s)	Francis Gawthern
Children	two surviving

Abigail Gawthern (7 July 1757 – 7 January 1822) was a British diarist and lead manufacturer.

Life

Gawthern was probably born in Nottingham. Her parents were Ann and Thomas Frost. She was named "Abigail Anna" after her father's mother. This was opportune as the Frosts were to inherit a substantial bequest from her grandmother's brother Thomas Secker. Secker had been the Archbishop of Canterbury. After Secker died his will was disputed by Thomas Frost and he managed to persuade the court that £11,000 intended for charity should be added to an existing legitimate bequest to his family.[2]

Abigail Gawthern's diary for 1798

From an early age Gawthern kept a diary.[2]

In 1791 Gawthern, husband died. She took control of the family's white lead business and its money and property. She continued to live in their substantial house at 26 Low Pavement in Nottingham. When her parents died in 1801 she received another large inheritance.[3] The business continued and her son briefly led the business until it folded in 1808 due to more efficient methods of production being developed.[2]

Gawthern is remembered because in the early 1800s she to copied her diaries into a single volume that in time would document Nottingham's history for the period 1751–1810.[1] The diaries show how the professional classes lived at that time. In her own street was the home of the "Ladies Assembly" which was run by ladies but which was open to both genders but not the working class.[4]

Gawthern died at her home in Low Pavement in 1822. A son, Francis, and a daughter, Anna, survived her.[3]

References

Abigail Gawthern (1980). The Diary of Abigail Gawthern of Nottingham, 1751-1810. Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire. ISBN 978-0-902719-06-4.
Adrian Henstock, ‘Gawthern , Abigail Anna (1757–1822)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 8 May 2017
Amanda Vickery (11 August 2003). The Gentleman's Daughter. Yale University Press. pp. 7–. ISBN 978-0-300-17721-3.
"How did Georgian Nottingham let its hair down?". Nottingham Post. 2015-08-13. Archived from the original on 2015-09-04. Retrieved 2017-05-08.

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[Gawthern1980-1] Abigail Gawthern (1980). The Diary of Abigail Gawthern of Nottingham, 1751-1810. Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire. ISBN 978-0-902719-06-4.

[odndabi-2] Adrian Henstock, ‘Gawthern , Abigail Anna (1757–1822)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 8 May 2017

[Vickery2003-3] Amanda Vickery (11 August 2003). The Gentleman's Daughter. Yale University Press. pp. 7–. ISBN 978-0-300-17721-3.

[4] "How did Georgian Nottingham let its hair down?". Nottingham Post. 2015-08-13. Archived from the original on 2015-09-04. Retrieved 2017-05-08.