Biography

Ann Allan (1717-1785)

Prominent local women played important roles as advocates for the poor in towns on the Durham theatre company’s circuit. James Cawdell dedicated two poems in his collection of verse Miscellaneous Poems to the “Lady near Darlington, remarkable for her benevolence,” Ann Allan of Blackwell Grange.  The local historian Thomas Richmond noted that her “charities were most extensive” and that she was “well remembered as “The Good Miss Allan” for her benevolence.”[2] Her relative, the MP for Durham, George Allan, owned a wax model of a popular print of her, and noted, “Her memory is so much and deservedly revered at Darlington, that the Portrait hangs over the chimney-piece of every respectable parlour in the place.”[3]

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[1] Thomas Richmond, The Local Records of Stockton and the Neighbourhood (Stockton: William Robinson, 1868), 84.

[2] John Nichols, Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century, vol. 8. (London: Printed for the author, 1814), 352. n. 1.

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