Person Page - 265

     Margaret Costello was christened on 8 July 1744 in St Catherine, Dublin. She was the daughter of Jordan Costello and Mary Guy Dickens.

     Margaret Louisa Costello was the daughter of Edmund Costello.
Margaret Louisa Costello married Arthur French, son of Francis French.

     Mary Ann Costello was born on 27 January 1747 in Mayo, Ireland. She claimed to be 18 in 1768, 24 in April 1771, and aged 80 or 78 at her death on March 10 1827 according to different biographers of her son George.
     Highfill states that most accounts relate that Mary Anne was a penniless if beautiful waif, a legend which H W Temperley denies in his Life of Canning (1905), claiming that reports of her low birth were simply slanders concocted by her son's political enemies and that, in point of fact, "her pedigree extended to the conquest and included not only early Irish kings, but, what is of more importance, many late Irish peers." Temperley offers no detailed pedigrees, bur F R Gale, in Notes and Queries (1929), states that Mary Anne was the daughter of Jordan Costello, whose father was descended from a patrician Irish family and whose mother was a daughter of Colonel Melchior Guydickens, scion of an aristocratic Worcestershire family. The assertion by Temperley, however - that Mary Anne was "a woman of spotless virtue" - can hardly be supported by what is known of her life and it illustrates that biographers' deplorable zeal for improving the maternal background of his illustrious subject.
De Breffney stated that she described her early years as "an almost uninterrupted scene of suffering".
A Mary Ann Costilloe daughter of Patrick & Ann, of WineTavern St, Dublin was baptised at St Michael& St John RC church Dublin in 1743, and another daughter Mary was baptised there in 1746.
Julian Crowe states: On 27 of January 1803 MAC wrote: "This day completes my fifty-third (or fifty-sixth -- for I am not sure which) year." The March 1746 date derives, I think, from a legend that she died on her 81st birthday. Her mother had 11 children in all, of whom only Mary Ann and Esther survived infancy. It may be that an earlier child born in 1746 was called Mary Ann. She was the daughter of Jordan Costello and Mary Guy Dickens.
About 1764 she and her mother visited Col. Guy-Dickens and Mary Ann stayed..
Jerdan in 1866 wrote: It is stated that the accomplished mother of George Canning was ' of inferior station.' This is so far from being the case, that the young lady was residing with her uncle, General Guydickens, who, on his return from a mission of honour from his sovereign to the court of Russia, had adopted his nioce, Mary Ann Costello, as his heiress. It was his mansion in South Audley Street she quitted to become Mrs. Canning. It was from his carriage she was alighting at Kensington Gardens (whither she daily accompanied the General and his maiden sister, her aunt, Miss Guydickens), when George Canning, then a student at Temple Bar, first saw the young Irish beauty who was to be the mother of one of England's best-loved statesmen. The addresses of the young representative of the Canning squirearchy were sternly repelled by General Guydickens, who had higher views for the niece he subsequently disinherited for what, in his eyes, was a mesalliance. It is at the same time historically true that the Canning family unrelentingly resented the marriage on their side, and thus this true Romeo and Juliet were exposed to a cross fire of persecution from the Capulets and Montagues."
Well, we may say with the poet, " it matters not ; " but Canning was aware of the miserable little envy which would endeavour to disparage him as lowly born. When George Croly published his comedy of " Pride shall have a Fall," he asked me to get Mr. Canning's consent to its being dedicated to him. I made the request without circumlocution, as I said and did everything I had to say or do in the same quarter, frankly and straightforward (for such was his desire), and he at once laughingly complied with the application, with the remark, " It is an odd title. I shall, no doubt, have it good-naturedly fitted to myself." I remember on another occasion some one gave a vivid account of a pitiable scene just witnessed in the Green Park.
Lord Sidmouth was then Secretary for the Home Department, and in the morning on coming to his office he was....
Mary Ann Costello married George Canning, son of Stratford Canning and Letitia Newburgh, on 21 May 1768 in St Mary, St Marylebone, Westminster. George Canniing of the Middle Temple, Middlesex, Esquire, bachelor & Mary Ann Costello of this parish, spinster were married by licence . Signed George Canning & Mary Ann Costello in the presence of Gustavus Guydickens & Albinia Gryan?
She was of Wigmore St.
:TAB:]Highfill states that by the time Mary Anne married the Irish George Canning, he had already earned a reputation for having an ardent attachment to civil and religious liberty. These extreme liberal views and his liaison with with a young girl prior to his association with Mary Anne, had caused his father, Stratford Canning of Garvagh, to turn him off with a allowance of £150 a year.
William Jerdan in "Men I have known" (via Google Books), states: I must, however, set out with a correction of my memoir from a relative of the family, who adds that Canning's chivalrous spirit might well belong to his blood as his descent was from two of the noblest septs in Ireland, the Costellos and the Frenches, from Old Castile ! 'It is stated that the accomplished mother of George Canning was ' of inferior station.' This is so far from being the case, that the young lady was residing with her uncle, General Guydickens, who, on his return from a mission of honour from his sovereign to the court of Russia, had adopted his nioce, Mary Ann Costello, as his heiress. It was his mansion in South Audley Street she quitted to become Mrs. Canning. It was from his carriage she was alighting at Kensington Gardens (whither she daily accompanied the General and his maiden sister, her aunt, Miss Guydickens), when George Canning, then a student at Temple Bar, first saw the young Irish beauty who was to be the mother of one of England's best-loved statesmen. The addresses of the young representative of the Canning squirearchy were sternly repelled by General Guydickens, who had higher views for the niece he subsequently disinherited for what, in his eyes, was a meaalliance. It is at the same time historically true that the Canning family unrelentingly resented the marriage on their side, and thus this true Romeo and Juliet were exposed to a cross fire of persecution from the Capulets and Montagues."
Well, we may say with the poet, " it matters not ; " but Canning was aware of the miserable little envy which would endeavour to disparage him as lowly born. When George Croly published his comedy of " Pride shall have a Fall," he asked me to get Mr. Canning's consent to its being dedicated to him. I made the request without circumlocution, as I said and did everything I had to say or do in the same quarter, frankly and straightforward (for such was his desire), and he at once laughingly complied with the application, with the remark, " It is an odd title. I shall, no doubt, have it good-naturedly fitted to myself." I remember on another occasion some one gave a vivid account of a pitiable scene just witnessed in the Green Park. Mary Ann Costello was widowed before 10 April 1771 on the death of her husband George Canning. Mary was an actress from 1773. After being widowed she turned to the stage. Highfill suggests that it was "no doubt through the influence of the eccentric actor Samuel Reddish, with whom she began to live soon after the death of her husband. Billed only as "A Gentlewoman," she made her first appearance "on any stage" in the title part of Jane Shore with Garrick as hasings, at Drury Lane on 6 November in 1773. The prompter Hopkins described her and her reception in his diary: "A small mean figure very little power (very So, So) great applause." The Town and Country magazine was compelled to report that "a continued monotony of voice and very little expression in her countenance, are great impediments to her shing at present in the character of Jane Shore." A bit more promise was discerned by the reviewer in the Covent Garden magazine. He found that she "has great sensibility, is pleasing in her figure, and agreeable in her contenance. But she has a bad voice, an unfortunate sameness of tone, and wants a power to vary her features, as well as spirit in her delivery, [but] ... is not devoid of the grand theatrical requisites, let us therefore candidly hope she will improve those abilities she evidently possesses, and by study and attention to the duties of her new professions, acquire those excellences in which she is now found wanting."
     Later in the season she played "Perdita" in Florizel & Perdita on 12 April 1774, then as Mrs Beverley in The Gamester with Reddish; was unsuccessful so relegated to minor roles & departed for provinces playing Julia in "The Rivals" in Bristol in 1775 & was calling herself Mrs Reddish. An unhappy affair but it kept her theatrical career going. See Highfill for a more detailed list of her performances. He mentions "Reddish's obsession for casting his "wife" in roles which she manifestly was incapable of playing caused a rowdy receiption for her first appearance of the season as Elizabeth to Reddish's Richard II. Forewarned, Reddish had tried to pack the house, but the hissing won out, and the manager was reprimanded by the press: Where we find private affection operating against public satisfaction, and connubial love against the desire of pleasing, we cannot but lament the misfortune of a person who, blinded by tenderness, can suffer the dictates of judgement to be superseded by the call of ambition ... I would remind Mr Reddish that an Herione is full as necessary on the stage as the Hero.
     ... About this time [1777] Mary Anne went to play at Dublin with Reddish, but the Canning family boycotted her benefit and she drew only a small crowd. As Mrs Reddish, she acted at Cork in the summer of 1777 and at Liverpool form June through 19 October 1778 at a salary of £1/11/6 per week. At one time she toured with Whitlock's company in Staffordshire and the Midlands and thw Wilkinson at Hull.
     In 1773 she was mentioned in The Gentleman's magazine as Miss Costello at Hot Wells, Bristol.
     Doran states that [Reddish's] wife who was a favourite in the provinces, was ultimately hissed from the stage of Old Drury.
     Mary Ann Costello had a long term relationship with Samuel Reddish from circa 1774. As of 1774, Mary Ann Costello was also known as Mary Ann Reddish in records.
     Mary resided at Gt Queen St, Lincoln's inn Fields, London, April 1774.
She wrote her novel of letters over 5 weeks.
The Newcastle chronicle on 6 April 1776 announced a benefit for Mrs Reddish at the theatre in the Bigg-market, on Easter Monday April 8, with Mrs Reddish playing Lady Jane Gray..
The Chester chronicle on 9 May 1776 advertised a performance of the Runaway (written by a lady) with Lady Dinah performed by Mrs Reddish..
     Mary Ann Costello travelled to Ireland in May 1777 per the "When Samuel & Mary left for Ireland in the second half of May, they entrusted young Samuel to her mother and sister Esther.".
See:The Offspring of Fancy, the author identified. By Julian Crowe at http://www.chawtonhouse.org/library/novels/files/offspring_of_fancy.pdf
Mary Ann Canning was a struggling Irish actress in London. She had, at the outset, some powerful friends and was given a helping hand by Garrick himself, who took her as his leading lady in a production of Jane Shore at Drury Lane in 1773. The reviews were lukewarm, but Garrick persevered with her, and the leading actor Samuel Reddish undertook to coach her. The fact was that Mary Ann had taken to the stage only as a last resort to earn a living after being left a penniless widow with two young sons. She was a beautiful and intelligent woman, but whether or not she had sufficient talent ever to have made a living on the London stage is not clear. She was not brilliant enough to counteract the scandals that grew up around her association with Reddish, a notorious womaniser. Garrick, for one reason or another, did not renew her contract. Under Reddish’s protection she found work in the west country, and Sheridan, when he took over from Garrick, was persuaded to give her another chance at Drury Lane, offering her the second female role in a translation of Voltaire’s Semiramis. This was early in 1777, by which time she was living with Reddish as his wife. She had lost her two Canning sons (one was dead and the other, George the future statesman, had been taken over by her husband’s family), and had two children by Reddish. On the first night of Semiramis she was determinedly hissed by an organized claque. Despite support from the other actors and the play’s translator, Sheridan could not or would not keep her on, and the part was taken over by the prompter’s daughter, leading Mary Ann to suspect that the prompter had been in a plot against her. The shock of this event, and the death of her young baby shortly afterwards, led Mary Ann to abandon for the moment her theatrical ambitions. Her health was badly affected and she looked around for another way of earning her living. This was how she came to try her hand at writing a novel. Between March 1777 when her baby died, and May when she accompanied Reddish to Ireland, a period of five weeks, she completed the letters which made up two little volumes.
This account of events is contained in Mary Ann’s memoirs, written This account of events is contained in Mary Ann’s memoirs, written in a long (60,000 words) letter to her son George at a crisis in their relationship which arose in 1803, a quarter of a century later.1
Although it is written with a purpose and contains much special pleading, her life-story given in the letter generally appears to be accurate wherever it can be compared with independent evidence. She doesn’t mention the title of her novel. When she set out for Ireland she left the work in the hands of Nichols, publisher of the parliamentary debates, and Bew of Paternoster Row, who had agreed between them to print 750 copies. While they were in Cork Reddish fell out with the printer of his play-bills, and Mary Ann went to smooth the matter over. She must have struck a rapport with the printer, William Flyn, who was also a book-seller and publisher of the Cork newspaper, The Hibernian Chronicle, and an important figure in Cork society. Mary Ann had a knack of hitting it off with intelligent and enterprising men, usually to her disadvantage, but in this case it did her good. Flyn agreed to take fifty copies of her novel, which she accordingly despatched to him from London the following year. His payment of £7.10.0 arrived in the autumn, at a time when her fortunes had declined to a new low point. Reddish, never a stable character, had gone quite mad and lost new his job at Covent Garden, so he, Mary Ann and their three surviving children had no means of support.
A search of library catalogues turns one title that fits the known facts about Mary Ann’s novel, the date, publisher and form. This is The Offspring of Fancy, of which two copies at least have survived, one in the library of Rice University, Houston, and the other at the Chawton House Library, University of Southampton. That this is the only candidate would not in itself be strong evidence, since there is no reason to assume that any copies of Mary Ann’s work must have survived. There are in the plot of The Offspring of Fancy no events which are so close to the known facts of Mary Ann’s life that they compel us to identify her as the author. Opinions expressed by the letter writers, and even some turns of phrase, echo some to be found in Mary Ann’s memoir, but again these are not so unusual as to be conclusive. In writing about her novel Mary Ann twice uses the word fancy which could be a hint which she expected her son to recognise, but equally it could be an insignificant coincidence.
It is Flyn who provides the most telling evidence. He used his newspaper to advertise his other business interests, such as his lottery agency and his stock of the latest books. Week after week the same titles appear, with every so often a newcomer to the list. Novels are in a minority amongst his titles. Clearly, if he had fifty copies of a new novel by an anonymous lady to sell he would need to advertise them quite vigorously, and sure enough on 5 October 1778 he announced, in a separate notice apart from his routine list, ‘Just imported and now selling for the author … a few sets of the London edition of a new Novel in letters called The Offspring of Fancy, written by an Irish lady’....
     Her son George was taken away from his step father by his father's family in 1778 and they educated him. J Bagot in Canning and his friends" states that luckily young George was rescued from the sordid surroundings of his step-father through the efforts of another actor Moody, who induced his uncle Stratford to take entire charge of him. Canning however, never ceased his attention and help to his mother, who after the death of Reddish, married again, and was left a third time a widow, with 2 daughters and a son to support.
Mary Ann Costello married Richard Hunn as her second husband, on 11 February 1783 in St Paul's, Exeter, Devon. Julian Crowe wrote: Hunn hungered for the theatrical life, longed to appear in heroic parts, and had married her in order to further his ambition. He sold his shop and bought a share in the theatre, only to be swindled out of half his money. He soon lost the other half in another theatrical venture, which left Mary Ann as the sole provider.... By 1786 Hunn had quarrelled with the theatre management in Plymouth and Exeter, which meant Mary Ann had to look for work elsewhere. She came to London and took lodgings close to Drury
Lane..
Mary Ann and her son George met..
     About 1791 there were letters from George Canning trying to induce his mother to leave the stage (which she did after her marriage to Hunn was breaking up) She invented & sold an eye ointment with little success..
Mary Ann Costello and Charles Reddish witnessed Joseph Murch and Esther Costello's wedding on 10 March 1796 in St Pancras church, London.
     Mary resided at Totteridge, Hertfordshire, England, January 1798. In Jan 1798 George Canning rented for his mother a house at Totteridge, this was unsuccessful and by June she was back to Devonshire, then to Bath.
In May 1799 - a warrant payable to Mary Ann (his mother) from George's pension (£500 p.a.) According to The Dictionary of National Biography, Mrs Hunn retired from the stage in 1801, when her famous son George, now an undersecretary, was said to have caused a pension of £500 a year to be settled on her. But in his Life of Canning Temperley claimed the pension was a fable, or at least was "unconfirmed by the pension list.".
Peter Pindar, Esq [pseudonym of John Wolcot] in vol. 5, p. 171 Epistle IV. I met mother Hun in the Park, the dam of our great Master Canning... with her daughters perspiring and fanning ... mentions Mary Ann's eye ointment, the editor in a footnote stated: It is called Costello's Collyrium, which has experienced a most uncommon sale, from the very fortunate circumstance of having opened the eyes of the Heaven-born Minister: who, to exhibit to the World a rich specimen of disinterested gratitude, saddled the Nation with pensions on Madame Hun; the Miss Huns, alias Cannings, alias Reddishes, a pension on her husband, Mr Richard Hun; a place in the West Indies for one Master Reddish, and military promotion in the East for the other; and, to crown the whole, a pension for poor Uncle Tommy, the tinker of Somers Town.
There were many advertisements for the product in teh Devon newspapers up to 1843.. She gave a prayer book to Samuel Reddish on 12 February 1800 in Portsmouth, Hampshire. This was in the possession of John Ashby Hooper and is signed "the last gift of an affectionate mother, to S Reddish, may he be virtuous and happy, M A Hunn, Portsmouth 12 Feb 1800" presumably given on his departure for Barbados to be Comptroller of Customs at Bridgetown.
Mary Ann Costello and Maria Hunn witnessed Richard Thompson and Mary Reddish's wedding on 19 November 1801 in St Andrew, Plymouth, Devon.
Mary Ann wrote a long letter to her son Geroge Caning to meet a crisis in their relationship. DrJulian Crowe has made an extensive study of her life and family using this letter as a major source. It is now held among the British Library manuscripts from the Lascelles/Harewood estate..
     Mary resided at 11 Tufton Street, Soho, Westminster, Middlesex, February 1803. The actor George Frederick Cooke noted in his journal visits to Mrs Hunn at 11 Tufton St, Westminster in Feb 1803. On the 5th February he noted that he had met Mr & Mrs Thompson, whom he incorrectly identified as Mrs Hunn's eldest "daughter, by the late Mr Reddish."
     Mary resided at Winchester, Hampshire, 1806. Bell states that she "resided at Winchester where she had some cousins in an inferior walk of life."
     Mary resided at Lower King St, Bath, Somerset, between 1807 and 1811.
     Mary resided at Bath, Somerset, from 1807 to 1827. In 1807 she settled at Bath. When George Canning returned from Lisbon in 1816, Stratford Canning met him on the road and accompanied him to Bath, where his mother was living. He wrote at the time "I found a handsome old lady of commanding presence and much apparent energy answering to what he had told me, namely, that I should see a person of high spirits and spirit also".
We have an envelope from George Canning at Bath Oct 6th 1821, to Mrs Colthurst, Avoca Cottage......high, Ireland.
     Mary resided at St James Parade, Bath, Somerset, between 1812 and 1815.
     Mary resided at Henrietta St, Bath, Somerset, between 1816 and 1827.
During this time of separation it became one of Canning's ambitions to make provision for his mother and eventually, thanks to him, she was able to retire in some comfort to Bath, where she remained until her death in 1827 at the age of eighty. But before her retirement to Bath and after Hunn's death, she made extraordinary efforts, sometimes witli the help of her eldest son, to attend to the wants and vagaries of her numerous Reddish and Hunn offspring. Canning refused to recognise the Reddishes as his half-brothers, but he did endeavour to secure army promotion for Samuel Reddish. He provided pocket-money, jobs, advice and old clothes for Charles Reddish. When William Reddish was ill, Canning met the medical expenses; the illness proving fatal, he preferred sympathy and paid for the mourning clothes of brother Charles. Mrs Canning was grateful for assistance but she still sought to rely upon her own resources. At one point, ever optimistic, she invented an eye ointment called collegium and imagined that her fortune had been made. Sales were disappoint- ing, but eventually cartloads of collegium were sent to an unfortunate clergyman, with whom two of her young Hunn children were boarded as pupils, in lieu of payment which was owing. * God help him,' wrote Canning, 'and her! and me! and all of us/ 1 Nothing, in fact, seems to have been able to quench his mother's indomitable spirit. When she visited him in London in 1794 he noted, * She is come up on a thousand little matters and seemed so happy to see me, and looked in so much better health and spirits than I had expected to see her that I could not find in my heart to represent to her as I had intended, the folly of jogging up and down from place to place when God knows how she contrives to live in any place.' 2 When Canning wrote these words he had just become an M.P. and his own life, since entering the Stratford Canning household, had followed the conventional lines which befitted eighteenth- century legislators.
     Mary died on 10 March 1827 in 35 Henrietta Street, Bath, Somerset, aged 80. Her son George in 1809 bequeathed all his personalty to his wife, desiring her to secure to his mother an annuity of 300 pounds for her life, however she died five months before him.
The Dictionary of National Biography described her as "A young lady of great beauty but without any fortune". She was paid £40 p.a. by her father-in-law to stay in England. Her uncle was a gentleman usher, he approached Queen Charlotte with a request for an introduction to Garrick & through him was able to start a theatrical career. Canning seems to have kept regularly in touch with his mother by letter and he often visited her. Although he did not recognize the Reddish children as his relations, apparently he provided them with support from time to time. In 1802 Mary Ann was "threatening to live in London near son George". In 1804 Mary Ann saw her Canning grand-children. In 1805 she was in London.
     Highfill states "She no doubt caused some embarrassment to her son's political ambitions, and his enemies often sought to discredit him by reference to her stage career: Lord Grey once demanded with mock indignation whether "the actress's son" was really to become Prime Minister of England. "Peter Pindar" wrote sneering verses about "Mother Hunn and her daughters from the country theatrical barns." Mrs Hunn maintained her interest in the theatre throughout 26 years of retirement. Samuel Clement Hall (1800-1889) whose father knew Mrs Hunn well, remembered her as "Handsome and attractive in old age, chatty, agreeable, fond of going back to remembrances of people she had known, and greatly enjoying a rubber of whist.". She was buried on 19 March 1829 in St Peter & St Paul, Bath Abbey, Somerset. Mary Ann Hunn, of Henrietta St, Bathwick, aged 80.
On the 16 April 1927, the "Daily Telegraph" had an article by F R Gale titled: A woman of spirit: George Canning's mother.
This year is the centenary of the death of George Canning and also his mother Mary Ann Hunn, one of those women who have given great sons to their country, and of whom the comparative little that is known makes one want to know more. Of her youth she herself wrote to a correspondent: “The first twenty years of my life was almost an uninterrupted scene of suffering”.
Daughter of Jordan Costello, a member of an ancient and honourable Irish family, and granddaughter of Colonel (Melchior) Guy Dickens who figures in Carlyle’s “Frederick the Great” but a penniless beauty, she married in 1768 George Canning, pere, a disinherited young barrister who forsook the study of Law for literature. The writer of these notes purchased not long since, for a couple of shillings off a bookstall in the Farringdon Road, a copy of a ? volume containing his “poems” “by George Canning of the Middle Temple” published in 1767 together with his “Translation of Anti-Lucretius” published the previous year. “To her Majesty Queen Charlotte” (ran the author’s dedication) “this translation of a poem calculated to promote the cause of religion and virtue, by overturning the pillars of morality and atheism, is most humbly inscribed by her Majesty’s most dutiful and loyal servant” and then the printers have left a space which is autographed in a large round hand” G. Canning”. The introductory address to the “Printers” is similarly signed. The author died in 1771 not quite three years after his marriage with Mary Ann Costello and just a year after the birth of a future Prime Minister.
ON THE STAGE
With his death perished the small annuity he received from his family and Mrs Canning, at the age of 23 was left destitute. Being a woman of spirit she bestirred herself, ……….was brought to bear, and she was enabled to make a first appearance on the stage at Drury Lane, on Nov. 6 1773 in the leading character of Nicholas Bowe’s Jane Shore. Garrick resuming for the occasion his part of Hastings. A notice in the same day’s “Public Advertiser” announced that the part of Jane Shore would be taken “by a Gentlewoman (being her first appearance on any stage)” with Reddish as ……, M …. Young as Alicia and as already mentioned Garrick as Hastings. A paragraph in that following Monday’s issue stated the “the gentlewoman who made her first appearance upon any stage in the character of Jane Shore on Saturday last was received with great applause and would perform it (for a second time) this evening” Mrs Canning’s name appeared in subsequent bills, including that of her benefit, which took place on April 26 1774, when she appeared for the first time as Mrs. Beverley in “The Gamester”
Tickets and places were to be had, according to the bill “of Mrs Canning in Great Queen-street Lincoln’s Inn-fields, and at the theatre” But it was hardly to be expected that a novice, even with her beauty, should be able to hold her own with actresses like Mrs. Abingdon and Mrs. Barry, and Mrs Canning was soon filling minor parts. In 1775 she was playing Julia in “The Rivals” at Bristol, under the management of Samuel Reddish of Drury Lane, tragedian and drunkard whom she was foolish enough to marry, and who died in 1785.
Mrs. Hunn’s connection with the stage was the subject of many lampoons on the part of her son’s political adversaries. “ Peter Pindar” sneered at “Mother Hun (sic) and her daughters from the country theatrical barns” and complained that “with sinecures of large amount, squeezed from the vitals of the nation, this modest and generous youth could not afford to yield his poor mother Mistress Hunn, alias Mistress Reddish alias Mistress Canning, a pittance. No! the kingdom must be saddled with five hundred pounds a year for her support”. But, as Bell says in his “Life of Canning” (!846) the transfer of the pension to which he was entitled, when retired from the office of Under-Secretary of State, from a “youth” of 31 was clearly in favour of the public.
John Bernard, under whose management she played for sixteen years and who was present at her first appearance at Drury Lane, when according to him, she “put forth claims to the approbation of the critical” has put it on record that “as an actress the efforts of Mrs Hunn were more characterised by judgment than ‘genius’ but Nature had gifted her in several respects to sustain the matrons” Bernard was writing of a period nearly twenty years after her Drury Lane debut. She had had a dozen children – two by George Canning (the elder, a girl, did not survive) five by Samuel Reddish, and five by her third husband, Richard Hunn, whom she met at Plymouth, where she appears to have been quite a favourite. Richard Hunn, a silk mercer at Plymouth, was the son of Alderman Samuel Hunn, master cooper of his Majesty’s Victualling Office there. He failed in business and then as an actor, and before long left his wife for the third time a widow. It was her son by this marriage, Captain Frederick Hunn, R.N. who commanded Admiral Sir Harry Keppel’s first ship, the Tweed, when she went to sea at the beginning of 1824. Captain Hunn’s half brother, George Canning, early in his political career married Joan, daughter and co-heiress of Major General John Scott, and sister of the Marchioness of Titchfield, afterwards Duchess of Portland. The day after Canning’s funeral she was created a Viscountess. Their daughter Harriet married in 1825 the fourteenth Earl and first Marquis of Clanricarde.
RETIREMENT AT BATH
Mrs. Hunn, who pre-deceased Canning by only five months, spent the last twenty years of her life in retirement at Bath. Stratford Canning who accompanied his cousin to see her there in 1816, says she was “A handsome old lady” of commanding presence and much apparent energy answering to what he told me namely, that I should see a person of high spirits and spirit also”. Her daughter-in-law, Mrs Frances Emma Hunn, the wife of Captain Frederick Hunn described her as “a woman not to be offended with impunity; her disposition and feelings are of a violent character” This was perhaps, altogether a unprejudiced description, for Mrs. Hunn junior went on, “Neither I nor my excellent husband stand high in her favour. Mr. Canning is her favourite child, all others (as well they may) sink in the shade when compared to him” Mrs. Hunn retained traces of the beauty of her youth to the last. The portrait here reproduced, which is the first to be published, is from a painting in the possession of one of her descendents.
Canning was a most devoted son. He wrote to his mother regularly every week and visited her as often as possible. Writing from Bath to his friend Frere on Jan. 8. 1825 (while his wife and daughter were in Paris on a visit to the Grevilles), Canning said that Lord and Lady Liverpool were settled in a house in Gay Street – “that house with the red door just opposite the end of South Street in which I lodge “I have two younkers of secretaries with me…. We dine regularly at Liverpool’s. In the evening, I send my younkers to the play or ball and I sit and drink tea with my mother, and then about half ten home to bed. Ten days of this regular …. ought to set me up for the year.
Two years later Mrs. Hunn’s health was failing. She did not live to see her son Prime Minister. In a letter dated Cosham, March 30 1827 (the day of her death), Mrs Hunn’s junior wrote: “The last four months of my time have been employed in attending the sick bed of Captain Hunn’s mother whose death is now hourly expected. It was my wish to have remained with her till all was over, but the house filled so rapidly with relatives that I found my attendance unnecessary ad useless, because the poor old lady knew not one nurse from another” Canning was prevented by a severe rheumatic attack from journeying to Bath for his mother’s funeral. Acknowledging a letter from Dr. J Turner. of Bath, who had “the painfull task to announce to you that what we have been so long apprehensive of has taken place this morning.” Canning bemoaned his helpless state. “I wrote to Bath on Saturday” he said, “in a tone calculated to prevent alarm if the letters had met the maternal eyes which, alas! were closed before its arrival”.

     Melchior Costello was born circa 1746. He was their second and short-lived child.. He was the son of Jordan Costello and Mary Guy Dickens.

     Simon Costello was christened in October 1750 in St Catherine, Dublin. Simon Costelaugh, Jn & Mary, sponsors?: J McCabe, Winifred Kinshiilaugh. Seems unlikely considering Edward born same year, but recorded for consideration, there is also a Dudley bp;ty 6 Nov 1751. He was the son of Jordan Costello and Mary Guy Dickens.

     Thomas died in Dublin, Ireland. Thomas was in business, in Dublin. He was the son of Edmond Costello and Unknown Dowell. Thomas Costello was born in Ireland.

     Thomas Costello was the son of Edmund Costello.

     Three sons & two daughters Costello was the son of Edmond Costello and Unknown Dowell.

     Unknown Costello married Unknown Jordan.

     William died in Castlemore, Fennagh, Carlow, Ireland. He was born in Ireland.
William Costello married Margaret Costello, daughter of Jordan (Boy) Costello.

     Katherine Costen married Robert Cocksedge, son of James Cocksedge, on 2 February 1608/9 in Glemsford, Suffolk.

     Catherine Cosworth was also known as Hill in records. She was born in Cornwall. She was the daughter and heiress of John Cosworth of Cosworth in Colan, widow of Alan Hill.
     A marriage settlement between Catherine Cosworth and an unknown person was made in 1560. Re the manor of Lantyan; In 1560 Godolphin sold it to John Coswarth of Coswarth, who in that year settled it (with other lands) in his daughter Katherine's (second) marriage with John Arundell of Trerice (R/880-883). The manor passed in four shares to the four daughters who were the issue of this marriage - Julian, m. Richard Carew of Antony.
Alice, m. Henry Summaster of Pains ford.
Dorothy, m. Edward Coswarth of Coswarth.
Mary, m. Oliver Dynham.
Catherine Hill married John Arundell as her second husband, in May 1562. Pre-nuptial settlement. Jn. Cosowarth of Cosowarth, esq., with Jn. Arundell of Trerice, on marriage of Jn. A. with Kath. Hill, wid., daughter of Jn. C.
     Catherine died on 15 June 1572?.

     Edward Cosworth married Dorothy Arundell, daughter of John Arundell and Catherine Cosworth.

     Hanorah Cotter was born circa 1842.
Hanorah Cotter married Patrick Colbert on 8 August 1872 in Conna, Cork. Patrick Colbert & Honora Cotter. Witessed byJohn Colbert & Honora Ring..
     Hanorah Cotter and Patrick Colbert were recorded on the 1901 census in Killaseragh, Ballynoe, Cork. Patrick Colbert, 84, farmer, married, with wife Hanora, 48, and son Patrick 28, all born co. Cork..

     Margaret Cotter was born before 1830 in Cork, Ireland.
Margaret Cotter married David Colbert before 1843. Margaret was present at James Colbert (of Conna)'s christening on 2 May 1846 in Conna, Cork, Ireland.

     Ada Jane Cotterell married James Bird in 1895 in Victoria.
     Ada was registered at Yarram on the 1949 electoral roll. She was buried on 18 May 1962 in Yarram, Victoria.

     Mary Cotterill was born circa 1796 in Lincolnshire.
     Mary Cotterill married Thomas Stanser as his second wife, in 1826 in Torksey, Lincolnshire.

     Adam Cotton married Magdalen Unknown circa 1596?.
     Adam was buried on 13 December 1638 in Withern, Lincolnshire.

     Adam Cotton was christened on 25 August 1639 in South Reston, Lincolnshire. He was the son of Bushe Cotton and Pernell Dighton.

     Ann Cotton was born before 16 February 1667 in Tothill, Lincolnshire. She was the daughter of Vincent Cotton and Margaret Hodgson.

     Ann Cotton was stillborn on 20 August 1640 in Lincolnshire. She was the daughter of Bushe Cotton and Pernell Dighton.

     Ann Cotton was christened on 18 May 1783 in Withern, Lincolnshire. She was the daughter of Leach Cotton and Susanna Robinson.

     Anne Cotton was christened on 4 November 1743 in Withern with Stain, Lincolnshire. She was the daughter of Vincent Cotton and Ann Leach.

     Bushe Cotton was christened on 13 February 1597 in Langton by Wragby, Lincolnshire. He was the son of Adam Cotton.
Bushe Cotton married Frances Fishewick on 16 June 1625 in Withern, Lincolnshire.
Bushe Cotton married secondly Pernell Dighton on 27 August 1629 in Withern, Lincolnshire.
     Bushe was buried on 2 March 1647 in Withern, Lincolnshire.
     Bushe Cotton made a will dated 8 March 1647 in South Reston, Lincolnshire. In the name of god amen, I Bushie Cotton of South Reston in the county of Lincoln, Tailor, being sick in body blessed be god, but well in mind do make this my last will and testament in the year of our lord god 1647. First I bequeath my soul into the hands of him that gave it me, and my body being dust and ashes to the ground from whence it came, and that estate which the lord hath been pleased to bestow upon me as followeth.

I give unto my eldest son being Robert the sum of 40s to be paid within half a year next after my death, his aquittance being a sufficient discharge to my executor; further I give unto my eldest daughter Elizabeth fifty shillings to be paid within half a year next after my death; her aquittance to be given for discharge to my executor. I do also give and bequeath unto my four youngest children the sum of four pounds a piece within the aforesaid half a year to be paid into the hands of Mr. Nicholas Newcomen my good friend who I make judicator of this my last will and testament. I devise also that interest for the money be paid half yearly unto my executor, until my two sons be at the age of eighteen years and my two daughters at the age of nineteen years, then that the money be paid into the hands of my four children, Adam, Vincent, Hester, and Parnel; they to give acquittance to my judicator; my will further is that if any of the aforesaid my four children shall depart their natural life that then their portions before given shall be equally divided amongst them surviving. I also give unto my eldest son Robert all my wearing appare11; further I give all those of my goods unto my dearly beloved wife whom I make sole executor of this my last will and testament; witness my hand this eighth day of March in the year of our lord god 1647.


Witness     Bushie     Cotton


Nicholas Newcomen     his     mark
Robert Cotton
his     mark


Interpretation of original document by Georgina Rayner.

     Dorothea Cotton was christened on 10 September 1615 in Withern, Lincolnshire. She was the daughter of Adam Cotton.

     Edward Cotton was born before 15 August 1669 in Tothill, Lincolnshire. He was the son of Vincent Cotton and Margaret Hodgson.

     Edward Cotton was born before 20 October 1672 in Tothill, Lincolnshire. He was the son of Vincent Cotton and Margaret Hodgson.

     Elizabeth Cotton was born before 24 December 1665 in Tothill, Lincolnshire. She was the daughter of Vincent Cotton and Margaret Hodgson.

     Elizabeth Cotton was christened on 15 December 1713 in South Reston, Lincolnshire. She was the daughter of Vincent Cotton and Mary Sleight.

     Elizabeth Cotton was born say 1628. She was the daughter of Bushe Cotton and Frances Fishewick.