Jane Davy
Jane Davy | |
---|---|
Born | 5 February 1780 |
Died | 5 August 1855 Park Street, London | (aged 75)
Nationality | British |
Known for | being a socialite |
Spouse | Sir Humphry Davy |
Jane Davy or Jane Kerr or Jane Apreece (5 February 1780 – 8 May 1855) was a British heiress and socialite who, after having lost a rich husband, married Sir Humphry Davy.[1]
Life
Jane Kerr's (Davy's) father was Charles Kerr, a Scottish merchant who operated in
Kerr came to notice when she married Shuckburgh Ashby Apreece who was the heir to the
She turned down a proposal to become the wife of the elder Professor John Playfair and instead accepted the proposal of the celebrity scientist Sir Humphry Davy.[2] The new couple travelled to Paris, Florence and then Rome accompanied by Michael Faraday. During the trip Davy received a medal from Napoleon and Davy and Faraday proved that diamonds were flammable. They returned to England when Napoleon escaped from Elba.[4]
They continued to travel in Europe, but increasingly they travelled separately as they had a difficult relationship. Nevertheless, Lady Davy travelled to Rome when she heard that her husband had been taken ill there, and she accompanied him to Geneva where he died in 1829.[2]
Davy died in Park Street in London in 1855.[2] and was buried in the family vault at St. Sepulchre's Church, Northampton.[5]
At the time of her death in 1855, her fortune had reached £180,000.[1] She left her fortune to her first cousin, with which he purchased a large house and estate by the River Severn in Gloucestershire.[1]
References
- ^ S2CID 239769850.
- ^ a b c d Sophie Forgan, ‘Davy , Jane, Lady Davy (1780–1855)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2008 accessed 17 Dec 2014
- ^ Letizia Panizza & Sharon Wood, A History of Women's Writing in Italy, pp. 144–5.
- ^ Robert Hunt (1888). . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- ^ "Northampton Mercury 19 May 1855"[1]