Ann Katherine Storer (née Hill)

Ann Katherine Storer (née Hill, 1785-1854), daughter of Thomas Hill of Shropshire and Westmoreland, Jamaica, wife of Anthony Gilbert Storer (q.v.), claimant for estates in Westmoreland as receiver of her late husband.

1. Born c. 1785 in Jamaica, daughter of Thomas Hill of Shropshire and Westmoreland, Jamaica, the eldest of nine children, five of whom survived into adulthood. Her mother, also called Ann Katherine, died age 35 when her eldest daughter was 11. She married Anthony Gilbert Storer (q.v.) in Jamaica 18/01/1806 (Storer's family owned neighbouring estates in Westmoreland). By 1809 her two eldest children had died and she and her husband had returned to live at his country seat, Purley Park, in Berkshire. She was back in Jamaica for the birth of her eighth and last child in 1817. Anthony Gilbert Storer died in June 1818 and Ann Katherine returned to Purley Park with her five surviving children.

2. By 1809 it is clear from copies of his correspondence that Anthony Gilbert Storer was heavily in debt and after his death, his estate was the subject of protracted legal wrangling between Ann Katherine, receiver of his estate, and various creditors, in particular Charles Armstrong (q.v.) and Evelyn Bazalgette (q.v.). Despite this, his son and heir Anthony Morris Armstrong left almost £60,000 in personalty on his death in 1902.

3. In 1824, Ann Katherine Storer was accused of the maltreatment of Philip Thompson, a black servant who was bought as a slave in Jamaica and brought to England by the Storers. According to Philip Thompson's testimony, "flogging was the usual punishment for any misdemeanour and he was often ill treated... One day in July 1824 Mrs Storer was already up when Philip rose at 6 am. Finding that he had not been up in time to clean the lobby she ordered him to be taken to the "whipping place". After removing his coat, waistcoat and shirt, he then received about a dozen lashes from a hunting whip wielded by the butler so that the blood ran down his back... Mrs Storer was said to have been present and said [to Robert Stewart, the butler], "Well done, Robert, give him more"... Did Mrs Storer - an accomplished lady with four daughters - order the flogging and then stand by and approve such a 'horrible affliction'? It took the jury only a quarter of an hour to reach their verdict: NOT GUILTY."

4. On 06/05/1844, Mary Ann Davis, a housemaid, was found not guilty at the Old Bailey of stealing a brooch from Ann Katherine Storer, her mistress in late March of that year. Davis had apparently asked Storer for leave to attend her mother's funeral in Wales and was subsequently fired. Davis claimed she had bought the brooch herself, though other witnesses identified it as belonging to Storer. According to Davis, "I lived with her six months, and she had twentynine servants; this is all out of spite; she can't keep a servant." Another housemaid, Mary Hammond, was convicted on the same day of stealing various low-value items from Storer, apparently having committed the theft in early April. Storer denied that Hammond had accused her of not allowing her sheets for her bed and of starving her, adding "I have been rather unfortunate with my servants—I cannot tell how many I have had in the last twelve months—I sent them away when they robbed me or got drunk—I cannot tell how many servants I have charged with robbing me, or getting drunk—I do not think I have had fifty servants within the last twelve months—I cannot tell you, within ten, twenty, or thirty" although by April she had only one servant in her establishment. Hammond was found guilty and "strongly recommended to mercy.—Judgment Respited."

5. In 1851 she was living with her son-in-law Rev. William Edward Sellon and his family at Kentchurch Rectory, Kentchurch, Hertfordshire, age 65, Annuitant, born Jamaica.

6. Death of Ann Katherine Storer, 07/04/1854. 11/05/1854, burial of Ann Katherine Storer of 15 Maddox Street, St George Hanover Square, London, age 69, at All Souls Cemetary, Kensal Green. The will of Ann Katherine Storer Widow of 53 Oxford Terrace Hyde Park, Middlesex, proved 15/11/1854.

T71/871 Westmoreland claim nos. 83, 259, 272, 274 and 662.

1. The Storers of Purley Park (privately printed, n.d.).

2. See Jean Debney 'The Letter Book of Anthony Gilbert Storer, 1809-10', Protect Purley: Newsletter October 1995 No. 39.

3. Taken from the Reading Mercury, 1824, quoted in The Storers of Purley Park.

4. Proceedings of the Old Bailey online, https://www.oldbaileyonline.org reference number t18440506-1370.

5. 1851 census online.

6. 'Monumental Inscriptions in England relating to Jamaicans', http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Members/b/bcarib04.htm [accessed 02/11/2011]; Ancestry.com, London, England, Deaths and Burials, 1813-1980 [database online]. PROB 11/2201/182.

We are grateful to John Levin for his assistance with compiling this entry.