Jane Tonge Thompson

Jane Tonge Thompson (1786–1851) was a 19th-century British writer and diarist. She was married to the British antiquarian Pishey Thompson.

Early life Jane Tonge was born on 17 February 1786 in Boston, Lincolnshire to John and Susanna Tonge. She was "the descendant of a French Huguenot family, which reverse of circumstances had reduced from affluence to the rank of small tradespeople." She had several siblings: John, Mary, Richard, and Susanna. 6 Nov 1807, Jane married him. Pishey Thompson moved to the United States in 1819. It was suggested, in 1864, that Jane traveled to the United States before her husband did, on the advice of a physician who believed the climate would be more salubrious than the fennish climate of Lincolnshire, and that the climate benefited her so greatly that Pishey decided to move to the United States for her. She is buried, beside her husband, "in the burial-ground of the Gravel-Pit Chapel, belonging to the Unitarian denomination, at Hackney."

Writing Jane was described as "a lady of great force and originality of character and mind, possessing not only literary tastes, but literary capacity." Her major publication was a book of poetry entitled Solitary Musings. This was, apparently, originally printing for private circulation in Washington, DC, where the couple resided. These poems often have biographical threads. They discuss her relationship with her sister Susan and her father, and the loneliness of being so far from her family.

She was also believed to have contributed a chapter to Change for American Notes, a 19th-century response to Charles Dickens' work American Notes.

Legacy Jane left behind her written work, as well as several diaries. These records present her unique account of life in 19th-century United States. As Pishey had befriended George Flowers, a brewer in Stratford-upon-Avon, several of her diaries, as well as letters she received from her husband during the early years of her marriage, are held at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.