watercolourist, wife of explorer Matthew Flinders (1774-1814), her father had been a captain in the merchant navy and died of illness at sea. Her mother remarried, to Rev William Tyler, and had another daughter, Isabelle. Ann and Matthew had both grown up in the mid-east Lincolnshire fens, she in Partney and he in Donnington. They met when they were very young and married on 17 April 1801. Three months later Matthew departed on the Investigator as captain to circumnavigate New Holland; Ann had initially joined him on board but this was disapproved by the Admiralty and she did not see him again for 9 years. After his return in 1810 they had one child, Anne Flinders Petrie (born April 1812), Ann being aged 40; she also had a later miscarriage.
Ann was described by eugenicist Sir Francis Galton as 'blinded in one eye by lancing due to smallpox, with above average mental powers, considered clever, with a sweet and perfect temper, beloved by all who knew her, witty, generous, nervous, with aptitudes for poetry, literature, singing, verse, and painting flowers from nature’ (Gertsakis, p 15). After Matthew died in 1814, Ann lived with her stepsister Isabelle and Matthew’s sister Anne (sic) Flinders until her death in 1853. Sometime after his death she destroyed all her letters to him. Both Gertsakis and Brunton featured her watercolours of flowers in their exhibitions.
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1999
- Last updated:
- 2011
