Eliza Anne "Annarella" Warington


Eliza Anne Warington was born in Naples, Italy, the daughter of Thomas Warington, the British Consul. She was known as "Annarella", a Neapolitan diminutive of Anne.

Background

Late in life she recounted how, aged 11, she had sat upon the knee of "the ugly little admiral" Nelson, and upon arriving home her mother had washed her hair for "it had been touched by that adulterer". In 1804, when she was 16, her likeness was drawn by Giuseppe Cammarano; the portrait is now held by a grandson's grandson's daughter who is named Annarella after her.

Family

Annarella had sung before the Court of Naples and was an accomplished artist and painter, though she never exhibited. Some of her illustrations were incorporated into her husband's published books. An oil painting of her and her husband was destroyed in the London Blitz, but copies survive.
On 7 October 1815 in Messina she married William Henry Smyth, and by him had eleven children - three sons, each of whom are notable; and eight daughters, the first two of whom died in infancy, the third and fifth died aged 21, the seventh died aged 25, and the other three married notable spouses:
In 1886, she was described in her husband's obituary as "a lady of great ability and rare accomplishments, who through all his scientific labours of every description was his devoted companion and assistant."
Annarella died on 9 January 1873 aged 84 at 25 Inverness Road, Paddington, and is buried with her husband at Stone, Buckinghamshire.