Hannah Courtoy

Hannah Courtoy mausoleum, Brompton Cemetery.
Courtoy Mausoleum.
14 Wilton Crescent is to the right of the post box in the picture.

Hannah Courtoy (1784 - 26 January 1849), born Hannah Peters, was a London society woman who inherited a fortune from the merchant John Courtoy in 1815. Her distinctive Egyptian-style mausoleum in London's Brompton Cemetery has been the subject of considerable curiosity and speculation ever since a report by Reuters in 1998 repeated claims that it contained a working time machine.

Life

Hannah Courtoy was born Hannah Peters[1] in 1784.[2] She never married but had three daughters, Mary Ann (1801),[3] Elizabeth (1804-1876),[4] and Susannah (1807-1895). In 1830, Susannah married Septimus Holmes Godson,[5] a barrister of Gray's Inn.[6]

In 1815, Courtoy inherited a fortune from the elderly merchant John Courtoy (born Nicholas Jacquinet in France, 1709) through a Will that was disputed in court.

Death

Courtoy died on 26 January 1849,[7] at 14 Wilton Crescent, Belgrave Square, one of the most expensive areas of London. Her Will is held in the British National Archives.[1][8]

Courtoy's distinctive Egyptian-style mausoleum of 1854[9] in Brompton Cemetery, where her unmarried daughters Elizabeth and Mary Ann are also interred, has been the subject of considerable curiosity ever since a report by Reuters in 1998[10] reported on rumours that it might be or contain a working time machine, a speculation that has been fuelled by various articles written by the musician Stephen Coates of the band The Real Tuesday Weld[11][12]

The Egyptologist Joseph Bonomi the Younger is buried nearby.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Will of Hannah Courtoy otherwise Hannah Peters, Single Woman of No 14 Wilton Crescent... National Archives. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  2. ↑ FIFTY NOTABLE PERSONALITIES. The Friends of Brompton Cemetery. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  3. ↑ Westminster Baptisms Transcription. findmypast. Retrieved 25 December 2015. (subscription required)
  4. ↑ England & Wales deaths 1837-2007 Transcription. findmypast. Retrieved 25 December 2015. (subscription required)
  5. ↑ Westminster Marriages Transcription. findmypast. Retrieved 25 December 2015. (subscription required)
  6. ↑ "Barristers Called. Michaelmas Term, 1837." The Legal Observer, Vol. XV, No. 438, p. 170.
  7. ↑ "Deaths" Bell's Weekly Messenger, 19 February 1849, p. 63. British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 25 December 2015. (subscription required)
  8. ↑ Index to Death Duty Registers Transcription. findmypast. Retrieved 25 December 2015. (subscription required)
  9. ↑ Meller, Hugh, & Brian Parsons (2013). London cemeteries: An illustrated guide and gazetteer. Stroud: History Press. p. 164. ISBN 978-0-7524-9690-0.
  10. ↑ London's coolest gravestones. Sandra Lawrence, CNN, 17 October 2013. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  11. ↑ Brompton Cemetery: The sealed mausoleum believed to be a fully-functioning time machine. Richard Jinman, The Independent, 12 December 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
  12. ↑ Is the secret of time travel lurking in an old London cemetery? Helen Smith, Daily News, 29 October 1998, p. 4A. Google News. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
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