Anne Warden ca 1739-1806

[Only child of Michel Warden and heir to Cuckfield Place; her right to inherit was disputed in Chancery case by Charles Langdon and Anthony Nott, two descendants of the eight heirs named in the original Deed of settlement by Charles Sergison in anticipation of the marriage of Thomas Warden (Sergison) and Mary Pitt. They claimed that she was not born in wedlock; her mother, Sarah Dean had been a "common servant" at Cuckfield Place and Ann had been born ten months before her parents wedding. Michael Warden (Sergison) claimed that he and Sarah Dean had contracted a previous secret marriage in the Fleet Prison, and although they were never able to produce any evidence to support this claim, Ann's right to inherit was confirmed. When Michael did in 1784, Anne became Lady of the Manor and Dame of Cuckfield Place and her husband, Francis Jefferson, took the name Sergison and was an active "squire" of Cuckfield. After his death in 1793 she married the Rev Thomas Scutt in 1804, but the marriage ended within a year in a deed of separation under which Dame Ann allowed her husband £1,000 a year. She had an income of £8,000 a year in rents, and was able to support her two spendthrift sons, Warden and Francis Sergison, and save for herself a private fortune of £17,000. Her will dated 27 October 1806 left all her property in trust to executors William Sewell, Nehemiah Winter, Thomas Granger and Joseph Buckeridge, with the interest on her capital divided between her two sons for their joint lives; to the survivor during his life and after their decease to transfer the estate in trust to any of their surviving children. The will does not mention her daughter Ann, wife of the Rev. William Pritchard, from whom she was estranged, even though she was the only one to have children. Her private fortune was to go to her son's children (if any) and it was in pursuit of this that her son Francis connived at the deception practised by his wife to obtain a baby (see Chancery case of 1820 which proved the illegitimacy of his daughter Harriet). Maisie Wright, A Chronicle of Cuckfield, revised edition, 1991, p128.] [Anne Sergison was one of the wealthiest landowners in Sussex at this time with an income of £8,000 a year from her rents, and she insisted that her previous husband and her son-in-law both took the name Sergison, as well as Thomas Scutt.] [Whitehall, December 23, 1803. [The London Gazette 1803]. The King has been pleased to grant unto Thomas Skutt, of Cuckfield Place, in the Parish of Cuckfield, in the County of Sussex, Clerk, during the natural Life of Ann his Wife, (late Ann Sergison, Widow and Relict of Francis Sergison, late of Cuckfield-Place aforesaid, heretofore Francis Jefferson, deceased, and only Daughter and Heir of Michael Sergison, formerly Michael Warden, Esq; also deceased,) His Royal Licence and Authority, that he may assume and take the Surname of Sergison, and also bear the Arms of Sergison, in Compliance with a Covenant contained in the Deed of Settlement made on his Marriage with the said Ann Sergison, Widow, bearing Date the Twenty-fourth Day of November last ; such Arms being first duly exemplified according to the Laws of Arms, and recorded in the Heralds Office : And also to order, that this His Majesty's Concession and Declaration, be registered in His College of Arms, otherwise to be void and of none Effect.]