Biography

Annie Florence Wathen (1871 - 1953) was born in Launceston on 20^th March 1872,*** daughter of William Fowler and Emma Wathen. William had come to Launceston in 1845 to take up an appointment as master-in-charge of the day school conducted in St. John's Schoolroom under the management of the church. William and his young brother, Osborne, were from Wootton Bassett, Gloucestershire, England.
*** Note: There appears to be a problem with the information Jenny Gill compiled in 1988. A search of the baptismal registers of St. John's via  Libraries Tasmania Name Index Search records Annie Florence Wathen, born 21 Feb. 1871, as the daughter of Osborne Wathen and Elizabeth Bland. According to Launceston Family Album - Charles Arthur Wathen, William Fowler Wathen did marry Emma (nee Withey) in 1861. He had 12 children from that marriage, but there is no record in the Libraries Tasmania linked documents of another Annie Florence, daughter of William and Emma.

Annie was brought up in a manner befitting a young lady of the Victorian era living in the colonies, skilled in the gentle arts and devoted to her family and the church. She attended St. John's Church and was confirmed there in June 1892 by the Bishop of Tasmania, the Rt Reverend H. H. Montgomery.' Annie spent her life engaged in charitable and good works, and assisted with funds for the extension of St. John's Church.

She died on 21^st November 1953 and in her memory a plaque of opus sectile mosaic was erected in St. John's. The inscription reads:
IN MEMORY OF ANNIE WATHEN
A GENEROUS BENEFACTRESS TO THIS CHURCH

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