# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Hanbury, Elizabeth

​HANBURY, Mrs. ELIZABETH (1793–1901), centenarian and philanthropist, born in Castle Street, All Hallows, London Wall, on 9 June 1793, was younger daughter of John Sanderson of Arnthorpe, Yorkshire, ​and later of London. Her father, after coming to London, joined the Society of Friends; her mother died when she was under two years old. Intimacy with the Gurneys led to her assisting Elizabeth Fry [q. v.] in her work of visiting prisons; her elder sister, Mary, who became the wife of Sylvanus Fox, was already engaged in the like service. The sisters also took part in the anti-slavery movement. In 1826 Elizabeth married, as his second wife, Cornelius Hanbury, of Plough Court, Lombard Street, chemist, member of the old-established firm, now Allen & Hanburys Ltd. He was first cousin to the Gurneys of Earlham. His first wife was Mary, only child of William Allen [q. v.], his partner. By him she was mother of two children, a son, Cornelius, and a daughter, Charlotte.
Mrs. Hanbury was acknowledged a minister in the Society of Friends in 1833. With her husband she resided successively at Bonchurch, Stoke Newington, and on Blackdown Hills near Wellington, Somerset. Her husband died at The Firs, Blackdown, in 1869. Eighteen years later his widow moved with her daughter to the house of her son, Cornelius, at Richmond. She retained her clearness and activity of mind till the end of her long life, being keenly interested in the prison work of her daughter (see below) and in the missionary labours of two daughters of her son, Elizabeth and Charlotte Hanbury, in China and India. During May 1900, when in her 108th year, she sent a message to the Friends' yearly meeting in London, and afterwards through the Dowager Countess of Erroll forwarded a greeting to Queen Victoria from 'her oldest subject.' Mrs. Hanbury died at Dynevor House, Richmond, Surrey, on 31 Oct. 1901, aged 108 years 4 months and 3 weeks. She was buried at Wellington. Her portrait was painted in her 100th year by Percy Bigland, and now belongs to Lady Hanbury (widow of her husband's great-nephew) of La Mortola, Ventimiglia. A replica is in the possession of Mrs. Hanbury's son. Only four or five other British subjects have on authentic evidence died at the same advanced age. Since her death three persons have been certificated to die at a greater age.
The daughter, Charlotte Hanbury (1830–1900), prison reformer, born at Stoke Newington on 10 April 1830, taught as a girl in ragged schools and visited the poor. On Blackdown she established several schools and mission rooms. She travelled largely in Europe and had friends in Germany, France, Spain, and Italy. In 1889 she commenced a series of visits to Morocco with a view to ameliorating the lot of Moorish prisoners. She established a Moorish refuge in Tangier and travelled in the interior of the country. At her death at Richmond, Surrey, on 22 Oct. 1900, she committed the care of the Tangier mission to her cousin, Henry Gurney. Her autobiography, a remarkable record, was edited by her niece, Mrs. Albert Head, in 1901.
[Annual Monitor, 1902, pp. 43-51; The Times, 1 Nov. 1901; Charlotte Hanbury: an Autobiography, 1901; Life of Mrs. Albert Head (Caroline Hanbury), by Charlotte Hanbury (the younger), 1905; information from Mrs. Hanbury's son, Mr. Cornelius Hanbury.]
C. F. S.