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    Milnes, Stansfelds and Briggs – Unitarians

    by Paul L Dawson Ann Walker, a woman whose life is now coming to the fore, and out of the shadows of her notable spouse. She became related through her wider family, into the leading Dissenting families and communities of the West Riding, as it was at the time. These families of Briggs, Stansfelds and Milnes, were known to Anne Lister through familial branches in Halifax. It is hard to say if Ann Walker ever met any of the Milnes, Stansfelds or Briggs, but she perhaps would have found a kindred spirit in the long-lived matriarch of the family, Mary Anne Milnes nee Bell, a forthright woman of character, passion…