Maria Billington Hawes

Maria Dowding Billington Hawes (1816 – 1886) was an English contralto singer and composer who performed in two Mendelssohn debuts.

She was baptised at St-Martin-in-the-Fields, London, on 21 June 1816, the third daughter of the composer William Hawes, who taught her to sing.

[1] Her godmother was opera singer Elizabeth Billington.

[3] She composed 27 songs and hymns including "There be none of beauty's daughters" (1856) and "Oh Lord, thy mercies we proclaim" (1872).

On 18 July 1847 she became the second wife of James Drege Merest, a magistrate of Bury St Edmunds.