Hannah Courtoy (1784 - 26 January 1849), born Hannah Peters, was a London society woman who inherited a fortune from the merchant John Courtoy in 1815. Her distinctive Egyptian-style mausoleum in London's Brompton Cemetery has been the subject of considerable curiosity and speculation ever since a report by Reuters in 1998 repeated claims that it contained a working time machine.
Life Hannah Courtoy was born Hannah Peters in 1784, her occupation was a maid.FIFTY NOTABLE PERSONALITIES. The Friends of Brompton Cemetery. Retrieved 24 December 2015. She had three daughters out of wedlock with John Courtoy, Mary Ann (1801),Westminster Baptisms Transcription. findmypast. Retrieved 25 December 2015. Elizabeth (1804-1876),England & Wales deaths 1837-2007 Transcription. findmypast. Retrieved 25 December 2015. and Susannah (1807-1895). In 1830, Susannah married Septimus Holmes Godson,Westminster Marriages Transcription. findmypast. Retrieved 25 December 2015. a barrister of Gray's Inn."Barristers Called. Michaelmas Term, 1837." The Legal Observer, Vol. XV, No. 438, p. 170.
In 1815, Courtoy inherited a fortune from the elderly merchant John Courtoy (born Nicholas Jacquinet in France, 1729) through a Will that was disputed in court.
Death Courtoy died on 26 January 1849,"Deaths" Bell's Weekly Messenger, 19 February 1849, p. 63. British Newspaper Archive. Retrieved 25 December 2015. at 14 Wilton Crescent, Belgrave Square, one of the most expensive areas of London. Her Will is held in the British National Archives.Will of Hannah Courtoy otherwise Hannah Peters, Single Woman of No 14 Wilton Crescent... National Archives. Retrieved 24 December 2015.Index to Death Duty Registers Transcription. findmypast. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
Tomb Courtoy's distinctive Egyptian-style mausoleum of 1854 in Brompton Cemetery, where her unmarried daughters Elizabeth and Mary Ann are also interred, has been the subject of considerable curiosity because of rumours that it might be or contain a working time machine, a speculation that has been fuelled by various articles and recordings made by the musician Stephen Coates of the band The Real Tuesday WeldBrompton Cemetery: The sealed mausoleum believed to be a fully-functioning time machine. Richard Jinman, The Independent, 12 December 2015. Retrieved 24 December 2015.Is the secret of time travel lurking in an old London cemetery? Helen Smith, Daily News, 29 October 1998, p. 4A. Google News. Retrieved 25 December 2015.The Brompton Time Machine
The Egyptologist Joseph Bonomi the Younger is buried nearby.
See also Samuel Alfred Warner
References
External links http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/LONDON/2002-09/1033238863 http://www.rogerclarke.com/Family/S/Courtoy-Newsletter21.htm.html Time Space and the City The Brompton Time Machine by The Real Tuesday Weld