Ada Annie Watney

Ada Annie Watney (née Nunn, later Weguelin) (1868-1938) was a leading figure in the Ladies' Automobile Club. It was reported in 1904 that she had driven nearly 60,000 miles in six years.

Ada Watney, c. 1900

Early life

Ada Nunn was born in 1868 to an English father and a Portuguese mother.[1]

Marriages

On 15 August 1889 at St Luke's Church, London, Ada Annie Nunn aged 21, "reputed to be a former ballet-dancer" had married 19-year-old Sherman Martin, the eldest son of the banker and socialite Bradley Martin, but when his parents found out some weeks later, they were "overwhelmed with mortification", and Ada was offered $10,00 to divorce.[2] Martin was eventually welcomed home, went on a world tour, and his sister Cornelia Martin married William Craven, 4th Earl of Craven.[2] Martin relapsed and was sent to the Hartford Retreat for the Insane in March 1894, and after a few months was released apparently cured of his dipsomania, but died on 22 December 1894 in Baltimore after a very brief illness.[2]

In 1895 she married Claude Watney, a fellow motor enthusiast and director of the Watney, Combe & Reid brewing firm.

Death

Watney died in 1938.

References
  1. https://www.rct.uk/collection/2946294/mrs-claude-watney
  2. "Sherman Martin's Death". Baltimore American. 23 December 1894. Retrieved 7 June 2020.


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