As a descendant of Anne Ker, I have researched her family history including her novel The Heiress di Montalde (1799) and her husband John Ker's poem 'A Ker-ish Trick'. These, along with other memorabilia that included Anne's sampler, were handed down by her descendants, who emigrated to Australia in 1825-46. [1]

     Rachel Howard has contributed to this journal a comprehensive article on Anne Ker and her novels. [2] The article reproduces 'A Ker-ish Trick', prefatory material in Anne Ker's novel Edric, the Forester (1817, but expected in December 1804). The interpretation of this poem requires, firstly, an understanding of John Ker's relationship to the Dukes of Roxburgh, who bore the family name Ker until the Fourth Duke died in 1805. The Fifth Duke, whose surname was Innes rather than Ker, was confirmed in the title in 1812 and he adopted the name Innes-Ker. The title page of Edric, the Forester makes the claim that John Ker was 'of His Grace the Duke of Roxburgh's family', and in his poem prefacing that book John wrote

John considered the family seat of Floors (or Fleurs) near Kelso in Roxburghshire as part of his heritage. He knew it well, and identified himself as one of the Kers, who saw it as their home, but he never aspired to own it. He felt its beauty, as did Sir Walter Scott who referred to Floors as 'altogether a kingdom for Oberon or Titania to dwell in'. [3]

     Furthermore, the interpretation of 'A Ker-ish Trick' requires a knowledge of the very public dramas concerning the succession of the Fifth Duke of Roxburgh in 1812 and the subsequent administration of the estate of the Third Duke. From the evidence presented here, it will emerge that John Ker was probably a son of the unmarried John Ker, Third Duke of Roxburgh (1740-1804), the famous book collector and close friend and contemporary of George III. It will be shown that on his deathbed the Duke provided a secret annuity for a person residing in London whose name was revealed only to a lawyer. In his poem, John alluded to his dependence on income from the Duke's estate. The administration of the estate was delayed by protracted litigation. John lamented that he failed to obtain charity from the Fifth Duke. The pertinent biographical details are presented here below in chronological sequence. Personal names are spelt as they appear in source documents.

     In 1755, the Third Duke acceded to his title. In 1761, at the age of twenty-one, he travelled on the Continent and courted Christiana, eldest daughter of the Duke of Mecklenburgh-Strelitz, then aged twenty-seven. Soon after, Christiana's sister Charlotte became engaged to George III, and at the royal marriage on 8 September 1761 Duke John's two sisters, Lady Essex and Lady Mary Ker, were bridesmaids. [4] Duke John and Christiana broke off their engagement, as etiquette did not allow the elder sister to live in the realm as subject to the younger. It was said that the lovers thenceforth devoted themselves to celibacy. [5] Given the probability that John was a son of Duke John, he may have been conceived during the engagement of John and Christiana. Many children of royalty and the nobility were conceived or born out of wedlock. In an era when marriages were 'arranged' by parents or dictated by politics, premarital and extramarital adventures occurred, and were the stuff of many plots and subplots in Anne Ker's novels. George IV as Prince of Wales is said to have fathered six illegitimate children by different mothers.

     Anne Ker's sampler records her birth thus: 'Anne Phillips Born Nov^r. 17. 1766 in the Parish of St Luke Chelsea'; the sampler has as its central motif the chained lion rampant from the arms of the Phillips family of London. [6] She was baptised as Ann Phillips at St Luke's Chelsea on 7 December 1766. [7] Her parents John and Ann Phillips lived at Cheyne Walk, Chelsea. [8]

     On 1 November 1788, John Kerr, widower, and Anne Phillips were married in the parish of St Pancras, London. [9] At the time of her marriage Anne added to her sampler the date 1788, the initials 'A. K.', as well as a royal crown and a ducal coronet considered to be symbols of her husband's ancestry. In proximity to these symbols are two chevrons, each 'charged with three stars or mollets', from the arms of the Border Kers. [10] The pair was recorded as having been residents of the Parish of St Pancras, which was included in the district of Holborn. John and Anne were to live at Holborn for much of their life together. [11] The marriage ceremony took place at the Kentish Town chapel of ease, by banns rather than licence, and the Curate officiated. The witnesses who signed the marriage register were Benjamin Mence (Vicar) and a Mary Morgan; these functioned as witnesses at many other weddings recorded in the register. Since no members of the Ker or Phillips families signed as witnesses, the marriage was a low-key affair, perhaps even a clandestine one. Secret marriages were not uncommon amongst royalty and the nobility; HRH the Duke of Gloucester married the Dowager Duchess Maria Waldegrave (née Walpole), a subscriber to Anne's novels, secretly in 1766, and the Prince of Wales married the widow Maria Fitzherbert secretly in 1785. Clandestine marriages feature in Anne's novels, with the marriage of Sebastian and Adelaide in The Heiress di Montalde (1799) and that of Henry and Elinor in Adeline St Julian (1800).

     In 1799, Anne dedicated The Heiress di Montalde to HRH the Princess Augusta Sophia (the king's daughter, born 1768), and subscribers included the Duke of Roxburgh, his sister Lady Mary Ker and HRH the Duchess of Gloucester (the king's sister-in-law). Given the probability that John Ker was the son of Duke John and Christiana, this list includes his cousin, father, and aunt, and a kinswoman by marriage, respectively. Subscribers to The Mysterious Count (1803) included Lady Mary Ker, and HRH the Princess of Wales (Caroline, the 'official' wife of the future George IV). HRH the Duchess of Gloucester and her daughters HRH the Princess Sophia (surnamed Hanover) of Gloucester and the Duchess of Grafton (Charlotte Maria Fitzroy, née Waldegrave)-kinsfolk to the king and presumably to John Ker-were also subscribers. (Charlotte's cousin and brother-in-law Earl Waldegrave had been a subscriber to John Phillips's Treatise on Inland Navigation [London, 1785]).

     Duke John died in 1804. On his deathbed at his house at St James's Square, London on 18 March, he gave instructions to Mr James Dundas, an Edinburgh lawyer appointed to be a trustee for the Duke's estate. He told Dundas where he would find a sealed parcel, and desired Dundas to bring it to him. The Duke explained that the reason for wishing to have the sealed parcel was in order to see whether it contained a bond of annuity in favour of a particular person in London for whom he intended to provide. The parcel contained a sealed letter addressed to Dundas, in which was enclosed a bond of annuity in favour of the person named by the Duke. [12] Dundas gave this testimony on 17 February 1812 at an appeal by Lady Essex and Lady Mary Ker against the validity of the deathbed deposition that formed part of the will, and the appeal was dismissed. The secrecy surrounding this bond and the name of the beneficiary suggests that the beneficiary was an illegitimate child. The deathbed deposition dated 19 March 1804 was recognised as part of a much longer will, and probate was granted on 23 March 1811. The will stipulated that the trustees were to pay annuities granted during the Duke's life or by his will. Annuities to factors and servants mentioned specifically in the deposition ranged from £40 to £300. In order to give evidence, Dundas renounced his role as executor prior to probate, thereby giving up a legacy of £1,000. [13]

     Louisa Peterson, widowed daughter of John and Anne Ker, was married by banns at St James's Church, Piccadilly on 1 January 1811, near the former home of the late Duke John. John and Anne signed the register as witnesses to the marriage. It seems that they lived comfortably at this time, perhaps enjoying the annuity provided by the late Third Duke and paid out of his deceased estate. Anne may have had access to the Duke's library which was still at the house in St James's Square. [14]

     The Fourth Duke had also died in 1805 and the succession to the title of Fifth Duke of Roxburgh was finally decided by the Committee of Privileges of the House of Lords on 9 May 1812. [15] The title and the property entailed with it went to the seventy-six-year-old Sir James Innes (later Innes-Ker, 1736-1823) rather than to Major-General Walter Ker of Littledean. Litigation over the succession bankrupted Walter Ker; Littledean was sold and the Fifth Duke graciously maintained him. [16] The administration of the estate of the deceased Third Duke was assigned to John Wauchope, the remaining executor after the withdrawal of James Dundas. The famous library was auctioned for £24,341 at the house in St James's Square in May-July 1812. The Duke's will had authorised his trustees to sell his house and contents to meet his obligations. The proceeds of the sale are thought to have been applied to legal costs. [17] Litigation over the Duke's will persisted; it was perhaps during this period that the payment of the annuity to John Ker came under threat.

A Ker-ish Trick
From internal evidence, the poem was written after the failure of Major-General Ker's claim to the title and the Floors estate, rather than in 1804 when the publication of Edric, the Forester was mooted. The poem was written between 1812 and 1817, and reveals that John Ker visited 'Floors' and obtained a verbal promise of financial support.

The man who made this promise appears from internal evidence to have been the Fifth Duke, then aged between seventy-six and eighty-one. The 'two hundred pounds' may represent the secret annuity provided by the Third Duke; if so, it should have been paid from the deceased estate of the Third Duke and it is unlikely that the Fifth Duke had a direct interest in it, or even knowledge of it. John would have seen the promise as an attractive alternative to the trouble and expense of pursuing his own claim in the courts. The elderly Duke, preoccupied with his new properties, his new wife of 1807, and his son and heir born in 1816, might easily have forgotten the promise.

The description of the coach is consistent with the idea that John's host was the Fifth Duke rather than the Duke's factor or solicitor, or the executor of the Third Duke's estate. Roads and drives with a circumference of four miles encircled the Floors estate.

The mention of Anne's gout accords with her letters to the Royal Literary Fund in 1820-21, and confirms that the illness handicapped her as early as 1817. [18] Anne was more inclined to litigation than her husband:

John and Anne consulted lawyers who lamented the lack of a written promise from the Fifth Duke. They may not have been aware of the existence of the 'bond of annuity' signed by the Third Duke.

The gate to the Floors estate on the edge of Kelso was at the East Lodge, beside the Tweed. [19] 'Sawny' was a nickname for a Scotsman. The Fifth Duke was born and lived in Scotland. Although John is believed to have stayed frequently at Floors, he was apparently not invited to remain on this occasion.

John Ker felt sure that he would have received some immediate support from Major-General Ker of Littledean, if the latter had succeeded to the title of Fifth Duke of Roxburgh and lived at Floors. The inference is that the 'man on Scottish ground', 'Sawny', who promised but failed to help, was the successful claimant to the title.

The village of Linton is six miles south-east of Floors and three miles east of the ruins of Cessford Caste, the principal seat of the Kers of Cessford until 1650. On 11 December 1811, the Court of Sessions in Scotland affirmed that Major-General Walter Ker was the undoubted heir-male of the ancient family of Ker of Cessford. [20] The Dukes of Roxburgh retain the title Marquess of Bowmont and Cessford and the unicorn's head crest granted c. 1500 to the Cessford Kers by James IV of Scotland. The phrase 'a Ker of Linton' was chosen to facilitate rhyming, but it was probably intended to mean a Cessford Ker as distinct from a Ker of the Ferniehirst line whose ancient seat Ferniehirst Castle was near Jedburgh. [21]

The poem ends with an appeal for donations in the form of 'Hase's paper'. Henry Hase was Chief Cashier of the Bank of England in 1807-29. During those years, his name appeared for legal reasons in the promissory clause on the Bank's notes. 'Fat on taper' suggests a plentiful supply of the wax candles used by nobles to seal documents. John is believed to have possessed a signet ring with the Cessford crest and Roxburgh motto, but was thin on resources. [22] He clung to his hope that the Fifth Duke would take the hint. The flippant tone suggests that the writer was mocking himself, and that (unlike his wife, who was livid) he bore no grudge against anyone. The fact that Anne Ker published Edric, the Forester in 1817 at her own expense shows that she was not yet entirely destitute. Perhaps she had received a legacy from the estate of her father who died in 1813 (RLF).

     In 1818, Lady Essex Ker, after persistent litigation, obtained the residue of her brother's estate, then amounting to about £200,000 pounds. This would have involved the overturning of the clause in the Duke's deathbed deposition requiring his sisters to receive only the income from the residue of his estate during their lifetime, after which the residue itself was to be paid to three other specified beneficiaries. [23] Lady Essex Ker had expended £35,000 in legal fees, and John Ker could hardly have contested the will in such an environment. The only winners were the lawyers, and the Mostyn family who inherited the estate of Lady Essex Ker in 1819. [24]

The Heiress di Montalde (1799)
Anne Ker's autobiographical references in The Heiress di Montalde are of uneven credibility, but the incorrect data are nonetheless revealing, and may shed light on her marriage and the birth of her child Louisa.

     On the one hand, she reveals herself as 'Miss P--', the narrator of the story. [25] In a footnote (I, 2), she identifies her father as the canal writer John Phillips, the author of A General History of Inland Navigation (1792). She claims that she went with her father to France in the spring 1787 (I, 9), when he was studying canals including the Canal of Languedoc (the Canal du Midi). At one stage in the novel, Miss P-- is in a library; asked if she likes to read she replies 'I am exceedingly fond of that amusement, my Lord' (I, 217). Miss P-- is addressed as 'My dear Anne' (I, 219). This much is credible. On the other hand, she falsifies her age, the date of her return from the Continent, and possibly the reason for her going there. She gives her age as eighteen in the spring of 1787, but she was actually twenty then (I, 14). She claims to have spent two-and-a-half years on the Continent, not returning to England until about October 1789 (II, 189), but she was actually married near London on 1 November 1788. She states that she had been to the Continent partly for the recovery of her health (I, 1), but the main reason may have been to obscure the relationship between the birthdate of her child Louisa (presently unproven) and the date of her marriage.

     A Louisa, daughter of John and Ann Carr, was born on 6 December 1786 and baptised in the parish of St Pancras on 4 March 1787. [26] This was the same venue as the apparently secret marriage of John Kerr and Anne Phillips on 1 November 1788, when John was described as a widower. 'John Carr' and 'John Kerr' may have been different people, but it is plausible that they were one and the same person, and that Louisa Carr was a child of John's first marriage to another Ann. Another scenario might be that John was in a relationship with Anne Phillips when Louisa was born. Anne may have gone to the Continent with her father soon after Louisa was baptised, and returned to London prior to her marriage in November 1788, by which time she was aged almost twenty-two and could marry without her father's consent. (Her father may have remained abroad.) It may be coincidence, but in The Heiress di Montalde Anne receives a note addressed to 'Miss Anne Elinor P--' (I, 222), while in Adeline St Julian a heroine named Elinor has a clandestine marriage. This Louisa is considered to be the daughter who married at St James's, Piccadilly in 1811. John and Anne were in attendance and signed their names in the same handwriting as at their own marriage but spelt their surname as 'Ker' instead of 'Kerr'.

Postscript to Part I
Anne and John were in reduced circumstances when Anne applied for help from the Royal Literary Fund in 1820-21, saying that she was 'destitute of friends'. At that time, their daughter Louisa was living on the Continent; Louisa's son Cornelius William Uhr was born in Bremen in May 1819 and baptised in London in September 1821. [27] Anne died at Southwark leaving an estate of under £200; administration was granted to her husband John Ker on 5 December 1823. [28] Louisa's married daughter Mary Louisa Jones emigrated to Australia in December 1824, taking with her a copy of The Heiress di Montalde. This copy contains Anne Ker's signature as well as a printed portrait of Anne, presumably the frontispiece cut and pasted from a copy of Modern Faults (1804). An album that belonged to Mary Louisa Jones contains a portrait that could be a likeness of Anne Ker, and a lithograph of 'Lord Waldegrave's in Rockingham', Northamptonshire. A manuscript copy of 'A Ker-ish Trick' handed down since early days in Australia may indicate that a copy of Edric, the Forester found its way to Australia. Seven children of Louisa's two marriages migrated to Australia, taking with them heirlooms associated with Anne and John Ker, including Anne's sampler and a signet ring engraved with a unicorn's head and the motto of the Dukes of Roxburgh.

II
J. Ker: Publisher and Bookseller of the Gothic

J. Ker of 4 Greek Street, Soho Square, has been mentioned as a well-known publisher of bluebooks-slim inexpensive books of Gothic fiction with blue paper covers that proliferated in the early 1800s. [29] This was the period when Anne Ker flourished as a Gothic novelist. Her fifth novel Modern Faults (1804) was published by 'J. Ker, 34 Great Surrey Street, Black Friars Road'. It is tempting to float the hypothesis that J. Ker, the publisher, should be identified with John Ker, the husband of Anne Ker, the novelist.

     John Ker intriguingly referred to himself as 'J. Ker' in the text of his poem 'A Ker-ish Trick', and in his signature at the end of the poem. This was published in the prefatory material of Anne Ker's novel Edric the Forester (1817). [30] The title page declared the Kers' family relationship to the aristocracy, a connection that may have been kept hidden from the book trade. It seems that John and Anne Ker were ready to unveil the fact that the publisher J. Ker was none other than the son of a deceased duke-a revelation like the denouement of a Gothic mystery. In Edric the Forester, Edric and his army attempt to take St Egbert's Castle. The story ends with the revelation that Edric, separated at birth from his family, is actually the heir to Castle St Egbert. For those who read between the lines, Edric was John Ker, and Castle St Egbert was Floors Castle in Roxburghshire.

     Apart from his poem and his novelist wife, John Ker had other associations with books and the book trade, and these tend to support the hypothesis. His probable father, John Ker, Third Duke of Roxburgh (1740-1804) was a noted collector of rare books and kept an extensive library in London. His father-in-law, John Phillips, was an author of non-fiction, including the best-selling A General History of Inland Navigation (1792) which ran to five editions; the fifth, in 1805, was published by B. Crosby & Co., of Stationers' Court, Paternoster Row (next to Stationers' Hall between Ludgate Street and Amen Corner), London. Phillips was editor of an annual publication, Crosby's Builder's New Price Book, until his death in 1813. Crosby and Co. were also the sole sellers of Anne Ker's self-published novel The Mysterious Count (1803).

     The hypothesis can now be regarded as proven thanks to Angela Koch's research concerning the bluebooks published by J. Ker, c.1800-04. Koch has opened an extensive window on the bluebooks in her checklist published previously in Cardiff Corvey. [31] Details in the checklist reveal additional links between J. Ker and Anne Ker, in respect of business and private addresses, choice of printers, and the publishing by J. Ker of bluebooks that were probably written by Anne Ker. It emerges that the identification of J. Ker-publisher and bookseller-with John Ker, husband of Anne Ker, is now irresistible. As a result, the biography of John and Anne Ker is more fully known.

     Of the 217 bluebook titles catalogued by Koch, 14 were associated with J. Ker as publisher and/or seller. The 14 titles are listed in the appendix to this paper; each title is headed by its number in the Koch checklist and followed by data abridged from the checklist. Ten of these bluebooks were published with J. Ker as the principal publisher, at one or other of his various addresses in the suburbs of London. Five distinct addresses are specified, ranging from Soho and Holborn north of the Thames to Blackfriars Road and the Elephant & Castle on the south side. In Table I (below), these ten bluebooks are grouped by their locations without implying any chronological sequence, and Anne Ker's novel Modern Faults is also included.

Table I: Ten Bluebooks and a Novel, Published by J. Ker

     Since the known or inferred dates of publication fall between 1800 and 1806, it is likely that most of the five addresses were occupied concurrently. Other publishers, printers or sellers of bluebooks had only one address, or rarely, two concurrent ones, throughout the period. With outlets in four suburbs concurrently J. Ker had what might now be described as a chain of bookstores. His address at 90 High Holborn was on the north side of that important thoroughfare about midway between the present Procter Street and Red Lion Street. Directly opposite his shop was Red Lion Yard at 254 High Holborn. A little to the south were Lincoln's Inn Fields. [32] Publishers and booksellers in this area profited from the sale of law books and stationery, and J. Ker at this address was described as 'publisher and stationer' (Koch, Item 63). John and Anne Ker lived at Holborn from the time of their marriage in 1788 until they took up residence near the Elephant & Castle during the 1810s. [33]

     J. Ker's address at 4 Greek Street, Soho Square, was on the east side of Greek Street, four doors from the square (Horwood). Nearby at 7 Berwick Street was the printery of D. N. Shury who printed for J. Ker the bluebook The Three Ghosts of the Forest (1803) and for Anne Ker the novels The Mysterious Count (1803) and Edric the Forester (1817) (Horwood). Later discussion will suggest that Anne Ker was the author of The Three Ghosts of the Forest.

     South of the Thames, 40 London Road was a few doors from the Elephant & Castle, and on the north side of the road. Around 1800, this area was semi-rural, with ribbon development along main roads, and open fields at the back of the development (Horwood). Subdivision of rural land near Newington Road would create the plot of land where John and Anne resided by 1820.

     2 Green Walk, Bear Lane, Christ-Church was in the Parish of Christ-Church, the parish church of which was on Blackfriars Road. This section of Blackfriars Road was then known as Great Surrey Street. Bear Lane is one block east of the church, and Green Walk (now Hopton Street) was at the end of Bear Lane north of the Church Street (now Burrell Street) intersection. 34 Great Surrey Street, Blackfriars Road, was on the east side of Blackfriars Road twelve doors south of Church Street. J. Ker's two addresses near Christ Church are associated with six of his publications including Anne Ker's Modern Faults (1804), printed at 15 Church Street by John MacGovern. Another printer of significance to J. Ker was Ann Kemmish, 17 King Street (now Newcomen Street), off High Street, Borough (Horwood). Kemmish printed five bluebooks for J. Ker, sold them at her premises, and republished one of them, Clairville Castle, herself (Koch, Item 43).

     Among the sellers of J. Ker's bluebooks the most frequently-named were S. Elliott of High Street, Shadwell (300 metres from St George's in the East); T. Hughes of 1 Stationers' Court, Ludgate Street and 15 Paternoster Row (opposite Canon Alley); and N. & J. Muggeridge of Borough. These were strategically located in the City, and in suburbs where J. Ker seems not to have had a shop of his own. By 1809, John and Anne Ker's daughter Louisa Peterson and her family lived in Cannon Street adjactent to the church of St George in the East, then patronised by wealthy merchants, near Shadwell. [35]

     Just as the topographical details lend support to the identification of J. Ker with Anne's husband John Ker, the internal evidence of the publications gives further support. Before examining this evidence, it is well to be aware of certain aspects of the literary phenomenon known as the Gothic, particularly in the bluebook form:

Bearing in mind these cautions, I would propose that Anne Ker is the 'authoress' of three of J. Ker's bluebooks: The Midnight Bell, or the Abbey of St Francis (1802) claimed on its title page to be 'by the authoress of Alphonso and Elinor, The Three Ghosts of the Forest, etc.'. Was Anne Ker the real authoress? The following facts establish that this might very likely be the case: