Mary Garrett Smith

2-5 August 1788 – General Evening Post (London), Category ‘News’ and Tuesday 5 August 1788 - Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser (London):

On the 26th of July last died, at Barnstable, in Devonshire, Mrs Wavell, wife of Dr Wavell, of the place, and daughter of the late William Smith, of Guildford in Surrey, Esq.

Mary Wavell sadly died on 26 July 1788 when she was only twenty seven, leaving behind her thirty eight year old husband William and their three surviving children: seven year old William, four year old Maria and three year old Arthur. The London General Evening Post and the London Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser carried the announcements: “On the 26th of July last died, at Barnstable, in Devonshire, Mrs Wavell, wife of Dr Wavell, of the place, and daughter of the late William Smith, of Guildford in Surrey, Esq”. She was buried on 6 August 1788, not in Barnstable but in Bunhill Field’s Burial Ground in City Road, London, the same burial ground as her infant daughter. The records show that she was a dissenter who had a non-conformist burial. Administration for Mary Garrett Wavell was granted in 1789 at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury.