Anne Gunn

Anne Gunn (née Young; 11 April 1756 – c. 1813) was a Scottish music teacher and the inventor of Musical Games, a set of board games designed to teach music theory to children. She was granted the first British patent for a board game, the only patent granted to a female inventor in 1801. He later became rector of the grammar school. Anne was the youngest of 11 children.

Early career

Young worked as a music teacher in Edinburgh providing instruction for young ladies. She published two musical treatises instructing on how to play and read music. The first treatise was Elements of Music and of Fingering the Harpsichord (originally published anonymously c.1790 before it was reissued with her name c.1802) A book of instructions was initially sold with the board; however, Gunn later revised the instructions and added more games.

Young advised that the board game was for children, noting that teaching musical theory was often dull for both the teacher and the pupil since it required a lot of repetition to embed the fundamental concepts. In creating the games, she hoped to better engage children in learning music, observing that:

Each of the games instructed players on how to identify clefs, intervals, cadences, scales, chords, and modulations.

An Introduction to Music provided more detailed instructions on how to play each of the games. Gunn also added a new introductory game on key signatures, noting that this was in response to some criticism received after the board was initially released in 1801.

After her death, An Introduction to Music was reissued in 1820, which included six more "Elementary Games". These games taught the basic fundamentals of musical theory and were likely designed to be played before progressing onto the original 1801/03 games. It is unclear if Anne intended to publish these Elementary Games before her death.

Personal life She married writer and cellist John Gunn at St Cuthbert’s Church, Edinburgh on 20 July 1802. The exact asylum is not identified, though Kennaway suggests it was likely one of the private asylums in Edinburgh. In a letter dated 31 January 1814, he mentioned that his wife had died in 1813, though he did not specify the exact date.