Lady Mary Abney
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Mary Abney (née Gunston) (1676- January 12th 1750), inherited the Manor of Stoke Newington in the eartly 1700s, which lies about five miles north of St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London. She had a great influence on the design and landscaping of Abney Park which inspired many of Dr Isaac Watts' poems and hymns.
The Manor had been managed directly by the Catherdal until the early 1600s, after which they granted it to a succession of private Lords of the Manor, beginning with William Patten.
In 1701, following the untimely death of her brother, Thomas Gunston, the manor became the property of Mary Abney, thoughw as technically jointly owned with her husband by the rights of marriage that applied at that time. Thereupon, Mary Abney (already entitled to be called 'Lady' due to the knighthood of her husband by King William), began to complete a new manor house, later known as 'Abney House', and comissioned the first map and survey of the Manor.
With the assistance of Isaac Watts, Lady Mary Abney is said to have planned much the planting and landscaping of Abney Park, which included two great elm avenues which became favourite walks of Watts, leading down to a secluded island heronry in the Hackney Brook where he found inspiration for his writings.
Mary Abney's husband, Sir Thomas Abney (1640-1722) was a Lord Mayor of London for the first year of their marriage in 1700, and had business interests in the City of London. Sir Thomas, some `thirty-six years senior to Mary Abney, already had a mansion at Theobalds in Hertfordshire when Mary Abney married him, but use of the less grand Abney House as the family's second residence, was frequently convenient and much enjoyed by their houseguest, Isaac Watts.
Some years after the death of her husband, in 1736, Lady Mary Abney moved completely from her husband's mansion in Hertfordshire, choosing instead to live at the more modest Abney House surrounded by the many nonconformist and literary families for which the village of Stoke Newington was noted. Her household continued to include her nonconformist chaplain Isaac Watts as a long-term guest, as well as one of her three daughters, the unmarried Miss Elizabeth Abney. Thus, following the death of her husband, Lady Mary Abney became more fully installed in her own right as the first female Lady of the Manor; one of only a few women elevated to such a position in early Eighteenth century English society.
Lady Abney was of an Independent religious faith (known as 'Congregational', after the 1830s), as was her husband Sir Thomas Abney and long-term houseguest Dr Isaac Watts, although throughout the year when Sir Thomas held office as Lord Mayor and Mary Abney was Lady Mayoress, she had to practice occassional conformity to the Church of England, as at the parish church of Stoke Newington Manor whilst Lady of the Manor. Privately, as an Independent, she was close friend of Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon who eventually formed her own religious group within the Methodist movement.
Lady Abney was Isaac Watts's principal benefactor from 1734 until his death on November 25th 1748, following which she was assisted by Sir John Hartopp in erecting a memorial to Watts in Bunhill Fields. Following her own death in 1750, at the age of 73, she was buried near her brother beneath the chancel of Old Stoke Newington Church, which overlooks today's Clissold Park. The Manor of stoke Newington was inherited by one of Lady Abney's daughters, Elizabeth Abney (c1704-1782) who died a spinster aged 78 on 20th August 1782, her will directing that the manor be sold and all proceeds be given to nonconformist charities.
References
- Whitehead, Jack (1990) 'The Growth of Stoke Newington';
- Joyce, Paul (1984) 'A Guide to Abney Park Cemetery';
- Shirren, A.J. (1951) 'The Chronicles of Fleetwood House'
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