Mary Pike

Mary Pike (1776 – 1832) was an Irish quaker heiress who was abducted by Sir Henry Browne Hayes.

Early life and family Mary Pike was born in 1776, the only surviving daughter of Samuel Pike and Catherine née Hutchinson. Her father was in business with his older brother Ebenezer with a family bank in Cork city which was established in around 1770. The details of Pike's early life are not recorded. After the death of her father in 1796, she inherited £20,000. She moved out of the city to live with the family of Cooper Penrose, a brother of her aunt Anne, at Woodhill. It appears that she became estranged from her mother, possibly over religion. Penrose was expelled from the Society of Friends due to his indulgence in avaricious leisure pursuits.

Pike was deeply affected by the abduction, appearing to have "developed a pathological fear of the male sex" and lived in a quaker retreat. Other reports state that she was admitted to a mental institution. She died in 1832 with a fortune of £55,000.