Jane Henrietta Adeane

Jane Henrietta Adeane (6 October 1842 – 30 October 1926) was a British writer and benefactor. She was a leading figure in the town of Holyhead, Anglesey, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Life

Jane Adeane was born in Babraham, Cambridgeshire in 1842, the seventh daughter and tenth child of Henry and Matilda Adeane. Adeane was part of the Penrhos family of Holyhead: the granddaughter of Sir John Thomas Stanley (1776–1850), 1st Baron Stanley of Penrhos, Holyhead, and sister of William Owen Stanley (1802–1884). Around 1891, she also commissioned Tanalltran Cottages, now Grade II listed, like Plas Alltran. A report on the history of Plas Alltran, stated:Miss Jane Adeane is now a largely forgotten figure in the history of Holyhead but during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries she was a leading figure in the town and gave freely of her time and money for the betterment of the town.

Stanley Sailors’ Hospital Adeane, a contemporary and associate of Florence Nightingale, was an administrator and benefactor of the Stanley Sailors’ Hospital. On the outbreak of the First World War, she became the Commandant of the Hospital on behalf of the Red Cross.

Death and legacy Jane Adeane died in 1926. The plaque reads:Remember before God Jane Henrietta Adeane O.B.E. of Plas Llanfawr where she lived for forty three years and worked with untiring devotion for the welfare of the people of Holyhead. Born sixth of October 1843 [sic] and died the thirtieth of October 1926. The seventh daughter of Henry John Adeane M.P. of Babraham Cambridgeshire and of Matilda Abigail his wife, daughter of John First Lord Stanley of Alderley. She caused this chapel to be built and the monument herein erected to the memory of her Uncle William Owen Stanley.Around 1934, Violet Isabel Martineau, her niece, wrote a biography of Adeane.