I am trying to build up the biography of ANNE STEPHENSON.
Born 1796 Died 1888 ( Exmouth, Devon, England. Buried Littleham churchyard, Exmouth)
She was a remarkable women and a major philanthropist to the people and town of Exmouth.
If I have the right Anne Richardson (she was unmarried), in the 1871 Census she is shown at the home of her NEPHEW, ROBERT OWEN Richardson, in Heavitree, Exeter, Devon. Her age given as
74. Annuitant.
In the 1881 census she was living at Penholme, Exmouth, where she died. (At some point between 1871 and 1881 her nephew Robert, had married and had three children.)
Anne appears to have come from a very committed non-conformist Christian background. She supported an Exmouth Congregational Church. She herself could have been a Quaker.
She was a temperance campaigner and funded the building of the Coffee Palace in Exmouth [part of a temperance development in the mid to late 19th cent.] as well as a terrace of cottages in the same area. She was also a radical and supported the Liberal Party, favouring many social reforms including better prison conditions. She might also have opposed capital punishment - she did on one occasion contribute to the costs of defending a young man on a capital charge. She also funded cultural events at the Coffee Palace Hall, including winter music concerts, with tickets costing 1d. (The old penny ). She contributed to the building of the new Methodist Chapel in the Exmouth village of Withycombe.
I have built up quite a lot about her work but I have not been able to discover anything about her
parentage and nothing about her before that 1871 census listing. Who were her parents ? Where was she born ? I have one comment, from a newspaper item about her promotion of concerts in 1881 - although the report just has "a local lady" , but I am certain it means Anne - that mentions "daughter of the C-in-C Forces in India ". I can find only one Stephenson who was a very senior army officer of the period - General Sir Frederick Stephenson. Could he have had any connection ? Anne was a very significant citizen of Exmouth ; I think that it would be good to have her full story as far as possible.
