Hannah Ayscough

Hannah Ayscough (pronounced Askew) (1623 – June 4, 1679) was the mother of Sir Isaac Newton.

Early life

Hannah was born in Market Overton in Rutland in 1623. Her parents were James Ayscough and his wife Margery Blythe.

Motherhood

Hannah married Isaac Newton, the elder, in April 1642. He died in October 1642, and nearly three months later their only child Isaac Newton was born.

Hannah left young Isaac in the care of her parents, James and Margery Ayscough, when he was three years old. At that time she moved to North Witham (one mile away) to marry vicar Barnabas Smith. She and Rev. Smith had three children: Mary (born 1647), Benjamin (born 1651) and Hannah (born 1652). When Rev. Smith died in 1653, Hannah returned to Woolsthorpe. By this time Isaac was ten years old, and returned to his mother's household.

As his father had been a farmer, Hannah decided in 1659 that Isaac should also be a farmer, and thus took him away from his school studies. He spent a year away from school on the farm, at quite a critical time in his education. Isaac went back to school in autumn 1660. Later in his life, at the age of nineteen, Isaac grew very resentful of how his mother had left him when he was young.

Hannah's brother William, unlike her, saw the abilities that her son had and was instrumental in Isaac's attending of Trinity College in June 1661. Hannah seemed to be more interested in her farm than in Isaac's academic achievements.

Death

Hannah died in 1679 in Stamford, Lincolnshire, when Isaac was 36. She was buried at Colsterworth on June 4, 1679 by her son, who buried her next to his father. Isaac spent much of the remainder of this year in Woolsthorpe.

See also

• Newton family
• Sir Isaac Newton