GODWIN DIARY: adv soeur 4.4.1799 at M Hays / 25.9.1799 mr Hays adv at Astley's
Mary Hays' sister Sarah Hills has a person record on the GD website. Soeur should perhaps be added to her. perhaps to another sister like Joanna Dunkin, or Elizabeth Hays later Mrs Lanfear. Mr Hays was probably one of their brothers John or Thomas, her father was by then dead. See Correspondence of Mary Hays
CRABB ROBINSON DIARY 5.9.1812 at George Wedd's, Mr Hill nephew and Mr Lanfere son in law of Miss Hays (should be nephew-in-law?)
7.9.1812 Miss Hays at Wandsworth, had recently lost her mother
22.3.1813 tea with Miss Hays at Mr Hill's, Islington
1.9.1813 saw Miss Hays at Hazeleigh (Essex)
: 25.8.1819 "I shall during the summer weeks still have amusement in visiting my friends. Miss Hayes is come into the neighbourhood - Mrs Smith is here too"
31.1.1821 "in the evening took my nephew to see Aders (I called before on Miss Hays who is leaving Pentonville)"
9.7.1823 Vanbrugh Castle, Greenwich, a Mrs Browne keeps a school there, Miss Hays living there
21.12.1823 "Before four I was at Mr Brown's where I dined by invitation with Miss Hays - rather a dull but not an unpleasant afternoon. Mrs B: is apparently an amiable woman - both Mrs Hays and Mrs Aders think highly of her as a schoolmistress"
7.11.1824 at Greenwich "found Miss H: in great affliction about her sister Llanfare who has cancer"
1.1.1825 call "on Miss Hays at Mr Mills of Canonbury - her sister is still alive but in a deplorable state"
6.2.1825 at Greenwich "Miss Hays is in deep affliction at the death of her niece Mrs Francis, and the dying condition of her sister"
15.12.1825 at Greenwich "Miss Hays as usual - very querulous and uncomfortable. Her hosts are in trouble and she is besides anxious about her own relations"
26.11.1826 walked to Greenwich "called on Miss Hayes and walked with her" "Miss H I found less querulous and in better spirits than usual"
10.6.1827 "Greenwich where I lounged for an hour with Miss Hayes in the park"
18.11.1827 "Greenwich found Miss Hayes in better health and spirits than she usually is - she is going to remove to her sister Mrs Hill in the heighbourhood"
10.4.1828 "walked to Greenwich and visisted Mrs Hays there. I had intended to dine with Will: Benecke but I was persuaded to alter my plan. I therefore went after a short walk with Mrs H: to Mr W: B:" "I returned to Mrs Hills with whom Mrs Hays lives and dined with Mr Hills and young Wheeler. Old Mrs H: is turned of 70 - quite an invalide. Hills is a respectable man - but the afternoon was rather unpleasant - Mrs H: could not help reproaching me with drowsiness and she was as usual disputatious and rude in disputing"
7.12.1828 at Greenwich "a chat with my old friend Miss H: - Her restless disposition and dissatisfaction with her actual situation though not at all blamable, but rather indications of a superior mind, render her conversation uncomforable - Besides she is a Stationary as much as any in the French Play. She has no other topics of conversation than the injustice of men towards women in the general system of laws and the notions generally entertained on matters connected with marriage - the superiority of North Americans to Europeans and the benefits to arise from the march of intellect &c &c"
14.1.1829 "called on Miss Hayes at her lodgings in Pimlico - she is but an invalide"
27.1.1829 "call on Miss hays - found her very poorly indeed"
19.4.1829 "went to Mrs Hays and had a long and friendly lounge with Mrs H:"
8.8.1842 "Miss Longdill called to enquire about Miss Hays and wanting to translate some German book - I could not receive her very cordially considering that she has not been kind to her aunt in her troubles"
Given that Mary Hays (DNB 1759-1843) was a long term friend of Robinson's as was Mrs Aders it is interesting how little they interacted. Assuming I have correctly noted all the references to the Aders in Robinson's diary up to 1846, there are only four references to Mary Hays near to a reference to the Aders or their families, so perhaps the two women never met each other, though they may have met through other contacts. Mrs Aders had a scandalous past and Miss Hays had eccentric opinions, but were those enough reasons for Robinson to keep them separate, did he like to atomise his social life into separate spheres, or did he simply assume they'd have little in common? For Mrs Aders' niece Selina Longdill see my background article 3 Wives 3 Husbands Living. Mary Hays' sister Elizabeth married at Maldon, Essex on 15.4.1804 Ambrose Lanfear when she was nearly forty years old, and had two sons by him, John Hays Lanfear born 22.4.1805 and Francis Lanfear born 19.10.1806. Lanfear himself was over fifty and had been married at least twice before. He was probably the Ambrose Lanfear, free of the Cordwainers Company, who had been a haberdasher at 32 Cheapside in the 1780s and 1790s. I haven't found a record of his death but Elizabeth Lanfear was a widow when she made her will PCC 1825. She was buried 24.2.1825 at Islington age 59 from Church St. Mary Hays' niece Elizabeth Dunkin had married at St Giles Camberwell on 17.5.1803 Henry Francis of St Aldermanbury, London Esq. She was only just sixteen when they married. Her death was announced in Jackson's Oxford Journal 22.1.1825 "at Maize Hill, Greenwich". Henry Francis was still living at Maize Hill in the 1841 census, his occupation given as solicitor.. Perhaps her Francis relatives were one reason why Mary Hays had come to stay at Vanbrugh Castle, also in Maize Hill. Henry Francis' will PCC 1847 listed eleven children living, all borne by Elizabeth in their twenty years of marriage. Sarah Hills was Mary Hays' older sister who had married as a minor with consent of her mother Elizabeth Hayes widow at St John Horselydown 6.8.1776 Thomas Hills bachelor, a baker in the Minories when they baptised their children Sarah 4.8.1777, William 21.4.1784 and Mary 22.9.1792 at Whites Row Independent Chapel Spitalfields. Thomas Hills will PCC 21.11.1803 dated 28.10.1803 flour factor of Gainsford St, Shad Thames. The eldest daughter Sarah married at Islington 21.4.1808 William Wheeler, ("young Wheeler" of 10.4.1828 above must have been one of their sons, probably William Robert Phillips Wheeler born 27.3.1811 bapt 20.6.1811 Holy Trinity Minories or possibly Henry Wheeler bapt 13.5.1817 Minories, then only 11), the son William married at Hazeleigh, Essex 12.7.1810 Emma Dunkin (he was presumably the Mr Hills of 10.4.1828 above), and the youngest daughter Mary married at Islington 28.9.1826 Ambrose Lanfear bach (born 1787 son of first marriage of Ambrose Lanfear whose last wife was Elizabeth Hays see above). Sarah Hills was buried at Bunhill Fields 28.5.1836 age 82 from Maize Hill, Greenwich. Her will PCC 1836 of Greenwich mentioned her children and grandchildren but not her sister Mary Hays