# Jane Davy > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Jane_Davy > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Jane_Davy.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Davy > Source revision: 1343089209 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{for|the Sydney identity (died 1903)|Northwood House, Northwood}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Infobox person | name = Jane Davy | image = | image_size = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = 5 February 1780 | birth_place = | death_date ={{Death date and age|df=yes|1855|8|5|1780|5|2}} | death_place = Park Street, [London](/source/London) | death_cause = | other_names = | known_for = being a [socialite](/source/socialite) | education = | employer = | occupation = | spouse = Sir Humphry Davy | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Jane Davy''' or '''Jane Kerr''' or '''Jane Apreece''' (5 February 1780 – 8 May 1855) was a British heiress and [socialite](/source/socialite) who, after having lost a rich husband, married Sir [Humphry Davy](/source/Humphry_Davy).{{cite journal |last1=James |first1=Frank |date=2021 |title=Making money from the Royal Navy in the Late Eighteenth Century: Charles Kerr on Antigua 'breathing the True Spirit of a West India Agent' |journal=[The Mariner's Mirror](/source/The_Mariner's_Mirror) |volume=107 |issue=4 |pages=402–419|doi=10.1080/00253359.2021.1978257 |s2cid=239769850 |doi-access=free }} ==Life== Jane Kerr's (Davy's) father was Charles Kerr, a Scottish merchant who operated in [Antigua](/source/Antigua). Her mother was Jane Kerr (formerly Tweedie). Her father had made his fortune through the sale of various [Prizes of War](/source/Prize_of_war), including the sale of their cargoes and the sale/lease of [slaves](/source/slaves), as well as various other business activities on the island. Kerr's father died in 1796, dividing his fortune between his daughter Jane and his wife (who later remarried). It was reported at the time that Jane enjoyed an annual income of £4,000 and had £60,000 in capital. Kerr came to notice when she married Shuckburgh Ashby Apreece who was the heir to the [Apreece baronetcy](/source/Apreece_baronets) but he died before his father in 1807. Kerr (then Apreece) was a rich widow who had travelled in Europe and she moved to [Edinburgh](/source/Edinburgh) where she established herself at the centre of Scottish literary society. It was said that she had inspired the character of ''Corinne'' who was the protagonist in [Anne Louise Germaine de Staël](/source/Anne_Louise_Germaine_de_Sta%C3%ABl)'s 1807 novel. She had met Germaine de Staël but that influence is more reliably assigned to [Diodata Saluzzo Roero](/source/Diodata_Saluzzo_Roero).Letizia Panizza & Sharon Wood, [https://books.google.com/books?id=kX7XkZKlptEC&pg=PA144 ''A History of Women's Writing in Italy''], pp. 144–5. She turned down a proposal to become the wife of the elder Professor [John Playfair](/source/John_Playfair) and instead accepted the proposal of the celebrity scientist Sir [Humphry Davy](/source/Humphry_Davy). The new couple travelled to Paris, Florence and then Rome accompanied by [Michael Faraday](/source/Michael_Faraday). During the trip Davy received a medal from [Napoleon](/source/Napoleon) and Davy and Faraday proved that diamonds were flammable. They returned to England when Napoleon escaped from Elba.{{cite DNB|wstitle=Davy, Humphry|author=[Robert Hunt](/source/Robert_Hunt_(scientist))|year=1888}} They continued to travel in Europe, but increasingly they travelled separately as they had a difficult relationship. Nevertheless, Lady Davy travelled to Rome when she heard that her husband had been taken ill there, and she accompanied him to Geneva where he died in 1829. Davy died in Park Street in [London](/source/London) in 1855.Sophie Forgan, ‘Davy, Jane, Lady Davy (1780–1855)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2008 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/7315, accessed 17 Dec 2014] and was buried in the family vault at St. Sepulchre's Church, [Northampton](/source/Northampton).[https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000317/18550519/012/0003 "Northampton Mercury 19 May 1855"] At the time of her death in 1855, her fortune had reached £180,000. She left her fortune to her first cousin, with which he purchased a large house and estate by the [River Severn](/source/River_Severn) in [Gloucestershire](/source/Gloucestershire). ==References== {{reflist}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Davy, Jane}} Category:1780 births Category:1855 deaths Category:British socialites --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Jane Davy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Davy) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Davy?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.