IN 1762, Anne married Captain Philip Thicknesse, Lieutenant-Governor of Landguard Fort in Suffolk, whose wife Elizabeth she had attended in her last illness. Anne bore admirably the responsibilities of a baby stepson, a teenage stepdaughter, and a decidedly eccentric husband, and later the couple travelled France and Spain together – fortunately, Anne spoke five languages. A fashionable circle gathered around their residences in Felixstowe and Bath, where Anne also took to writing.

However, on a trip to Italy in 1792 Philip died suddenly in Boulogne, leaving his widow to travel home alone, during revolutionary France’s Reign of Terror. Anne was arrested and confined in a convent, but milder policy after Robespierre’s death saw her released along with all who could prove that they could earn their own living. Anne’s stubborn determination to fulfil her dream of being a professional musician on the English stage could not have been more richly or deservedly rewarded.