Anna Maria Bennett

Anna Maria Bennett ( Evans) (13 November 1746 – 12 February 1808) was a novelist who wrote in English. Some sources give her name as Agnes Maria Bennett. Her best-known work is the epistolary novel Agnes de-Courci.

She worked as the housekeeper of Thomas Pye, and was also her employer's mistress. They had two illegitimate children, one of whom was the actress Harriet Pye Esten.

Family Anna was previously thought to come from Merthyr Tydfil Glamorgan, Wales, the daughter of a David Evans, who was described variously as a customs officer and a grocer. Discovered in recent genealogical research, a will proved on 13 November 1785, names her as being the daughter of John Evans born 1717, of Bear Lane Christ Church Surrey. He writes of her unhappy marriage to Thomas Bennett. He also names Sir Thomas Pye as recipient of part of his estate in order to support his daughter. John Evans' will was administered on 2 May 1789.

After leaving Thomas Bennett, eventually, Anna Maria found work in a chandler's shop. There she met Vice-Admiral Thomas Pye,

She minc'd his meat, & made his bed And warm'd it too, sometimes, 'tis said.'

The couple had at least two illegitimate children together, Thomas Pye Bennett and Harriet Pye Bennett. The latter became a famous actress as Harriet Pye Esten, with her mother tutoring her and helping to launch her career.

Her daughter, Harriet Pye Esten, initially appeared in Bath and Bristol before moving on to appear in Dublin. Whilst she was there in 1789 she and her mother negotiated a formal separation with James Esten. Bennett paid off her son-in-law's debts in exchange for his agreement. Her final work, Vicissitudes Abroad, was highly controversial. She died in Brighton.

Works Anna: or Memoirs of a Welch Heiress, 1785 Juvenile Indiscretions, 1786 Agnes de-Courci: a Domestic Tale, 1789 Ellen, Countess of Castle Howel, 1794 The Beggar Girl and her Benefactors, 1797 De Valcourt, 1800 Vicissitudes Abroad, 1806