Ann Fenwick

She was left great wealth and defended her rights at the House of Lords when her brother-in-law tried to take advantage of the fact that she was neither male nor Protestant.

She married a Protestant named John Fenwick in 1752 and her fortune was assigned temporarily to her husband to increase his collateral.

However, the property was destined for her brother-in-law,[2] Thomas Wilson, who was a Gray's Inn barrister and took his brother's surname of Fenwick.

[2] However, the £400 per year failed to arrive on time, or at all, and Ann Fenwick went to the courts to enforce the agreement in 1770 since she faced debtor's prison.

Her case was undermined because Thomas Fenwich used his status as an MP and she was a Catholic – the law discriminated against litigants who were not Protestants.

In 1762 when her mother died, she lost her good health and she brought a Douai trained priest named Thomas Butler to Hornby where he celebrated Mass.