Godwin, Hannah

Submitted by edpope on

apprenticed 27.9.1778 for 2 years to Isaac Hoyle of Norwich, millener, premium £20. (Nat Arch IR1/61 f12) In her letter to her brother of June 1785 (Abinger c.1 f.24-5) Hannah Godwin wrote "I leave Mrs Hoyle's at Michaelmas" so she stayed a full 7 year term.
from her mother's letter of May 1788 (Abinger c.1 f78) it seems she was in partnership with Frances and Anna French, (the unmarried sisters of Joseph Fawcett's wife Charlotte).
as a mantua maker at Cullum Street she took on many apprentices; Susana Cooke, Elizabeth Harrison, Sarah F Millen, Ann M Potts, Elizabeth Amy Axtell, Ann Hansard, Charlotte Littlewood all appear in IR1 apprenticeship records, paying premiums of around £40 apiece, and most dined with Godwin, so appear in his diary. Others in the diary can be inferred from context and may not have paid a premium so would not appear in IR1, including the misses Yates, Waring, Forsyth, Hole and miss Carey (Sarah Karre) who married Ralph Fell, and Hannah's niece Phebe Godwin who often accompanied her to Godwin's.
Hannah's relationship with her brother William was at first very close (note the Greek letters SYM at five of their dinners for two in 1792) but gradually soured till she became one of his 'amis perdus' (Abinger c.15 f65) and they saw little of each other. One issue was her encouragement of the matches between Fell and Karre and between Dibbin and Louisa Jones of which Godwin disapproved. Both weddings took place at St Dionis Backchurch (the parish of Cullum Street) and Hannah was witness to both, along with James Marshall in one case and with George Dyson in the other. She also fell out with Marshall shortly after Fell's wedding in 1800 (Abinger c.6 f113). In 1797 her mother had written to Godwin (Abinger c.3 f64-5) "many people think her carrector injured by Marshal a married man who I suppose dines with her on Sundays". Godwin's last meal with her was on 28.7.1804, his last call on her (until shortly before her death in 1817) was on 13.8.1804, after which she called on him only on 5.8.1805, 7.9.1806 and 15.8.1809 (2 days after their mother's death). Her letter to her brother Hull in 1805 (Abinger c.9 f49) suggests she was turning more religious at that time.