• Name: Dibbin, Henry
• Gender: Male
• Birth Date:
• Death Date: 6  January  1824
• Occupation: inn-keeper

Henry Dibbin was a friend of George Dyson. They appear together from 1791, and called on Godwin for conversation. Contacts peak 1797-1801, when he appears frequently with Dyson and Louisa Jones. It is highly likely that he was a childhood, or schoolboy fiend of Dyson.

It seems probable that he was an inn-keeper. In an undated letter to Godwin he wrote of being 'being conscious of the difference between us .... I wish to act under the correction of your superior knowledge', which could be read in terms of social class divide. On 10 March 1793 'Dyson and Dibbin call: advise the latter' could be read in conjunction with this letter. The Old Bailey Online has a case from May 1800 in which a Henry Dibbin has been robbed of twelve pieces of linen cloth. During the trial, Dibbin says 'I keep an Inn-yard; I am agent to a carrier, I live in Basing-lane'. However, in a letter to Godwin Dibbin gives his address as Blossoms Inn, Laurence Lane. British History Online shows that Basing Lane was absorbed into what is now Cannon Street and was thus right beside Laurence Lane so Dibbin may simply have moved premises. Thomas Pennant's Some Account of London (1813) refers to Blossoms Inn on Laurence Lane as a 'public-house of much antiquity, and which is still in great business as a carriers inn' (p. 552).

On 4 July 1801, Henry Dibbin and Louisa Jones were married at St Dionis Backchurch, London. The witnesses were George Dyson and Hannah Godwin. And on 7 August, the couple call on Godwin. Godwin was angry at their marriage and denied Louisa Jones/Dibbin all further access to the children. His relationship to Dibbin also seems to have cooled. The marriage played a part in cooling Godwin's relationship with his siser Hannah whom he saw as encouraging inappropriate liaisons.

The Gentleman's Magazine for 1824 records the death of a Henry Dibbin on 6 January 'of Basing-lane. His death has occasioned, in private society, a chasm that will not soon be filled; and the high value of his public character is too well known in the City of London, especially in the Common Council, of which he was one of the most upright, consistent, and efficient members, for Breadstreet Ward, for the last 12 years, to need any elaborate eulogy. In public and private life he was ever a candid, intelligent, and honest man.' If this is Godwin's friend, then he fails to record the death. However, on 17 January 1824 he does call on 'L Dibbin' (who has appeared a couple of times before) - so this is probably Henry Dibbin's widow (formerly Louisa Jones).

Another case from the Old Bailey Proceedings Online from 15 January 1829 indicates that L Dibbin was Louisa Dibbin and that they had a son, also Henry. This information, along with the diary and the correspondence of Louisa Jones together with what we now now of Dyson, demonstrates that it was Dibbin who married Godwin's housekeeper and not, as had been surmised by biographers, George Dyson. (See, however, the Dyson entry for the extent of Godwin and Arnot's misunderstanding of the relationship.

• MS. Abinger c. 14, fol. 85: not dated
• MS. Abinger c. 4, fols. 12-13: 6 April 1798
• MS. Abinger c. 22, fols. 188-9: 1798-9
• Gentleman's Magazine,1824
• The Old Bailey Proceedings Online; www.oldbaileyonline.org
• Mark Philp, Godwin’s Political Justice (London: Duckworth, 1986)
• Thomas Pennant, Some Account of London (London, 1813)

This table lists the people this person is most frequently noted with in the diary.

• Name: Jones, Louisa
• Gender: Female
• Birth Date: August  1773
• Death Date:
• Occupation: housekeeper
• Occupation: foster mother

Miss Louisa Jones, who has occasional appearances prior to 1797, was a friend of Godwin’s sister Hannah (See Janet Todd, Mary Wollstonecraft, p. 437n), who went to keep house at the Polygon and act as foster mother to Fanny and Mary after Wollstonecraft's death. Her father was a linen draper in Bath, and she may have become acquainted with Hannah through the trade.

According to Marshall, John Arnot, one of Godwin’s early disciples, fell in love with Louisa (Marshall, p. 196). Marshall also suggests that Godwin himself did not see her as fitted for the role as a mother and companion to himself, though she was willing (Marshall, p. 247). Biographers suggest that Jones drops out of the diary when she runs off with Dyson (Locke pp. 186 – 187), but is not a plausible way of reading the confused letters from Jones to Godwin over her departure - written while she still seems to be in his house. Indeed, on 4 July 1801, Louisa Jones was married at St Dionis Backchurch, London, to Henry Dibbin. And on 7 August, the couple call on Godwin. Godwin was angry at their marriage and denied Louisa Jones/Dibbin all further access to the children.

Against that account must be set the fact that in October and November 1800 John Arnot writes to Godwin saying that 'I am sorry for what you tell me of Dyson and Louisa Jones. Can you give me their address?' MS. Abinger c.6, fol. 52r (and repeated almost verbatim in MS. Abinger c. 6, fols 82-3. It is possible that the relationship with Dibbin is subsequent to one with Dyson - or that Godwin was misinformed or misled. Godwin evidently responded to Arnot that 'Louisa in (?is) some sort of bird of passage' according to a slightly later letter from Arnot. MS. Abinger, c. 6, fol 121r: 4 Jan. 1801.

The early Miss Jones could be references to Margaret Jones, but Louisa seems more likely (as she was the special friend of Hannah Godwin, who would have recommended her to Godwin after Wollstonecraft's death). Louisa certainly had sisters (Elizabeth, Frances and Margaret) although the first two seem to have resided in Bath, at least in 1798. However, in one of her last notes, concerned with ending her employment at Godwin's, she refers to Margaret coming to stay the night, and asks whether he would prefer that she didn't. There is a late reference in August 1834 to a Miss Jones who visited Godwin with a companion (Lobrot), bringing him fourteen nectarines, which Godwin considered profligate. Margaret Jones ran a school in Greenwich, and subsequently in Cresswell Park Blackheath with Marie Ann Lobrot (ten years her senior). In 1836, an advertisement appeared in the Morning Post soliciting contributions to save the two women from destitution. Mrs L. Dibbin subscribed £5.

There are several letters surviving between Jones and Godwin (the first and second during his trips to Bath and Bristol, and a group in relation to Jones leaving Godwin's employment.

• MS. Abinger c. 4, fols. 8-9: 9 Mar. 1798
• MS. Abinger c. 15, fols. 22-30: n.d.
• MS. Abinger c. 6, fol. 52r: 10 Oct. 1800
• MS. Abinger c. 6, fols. 82-3: 26 Nov. 1800
• MS. Abinger, c. 6, fol. 121r: 4 Jan. 1801
• MS. Abinger c. 43, fols. 39-40: [29]-30 Aug. [1834]
• Janet ToddMary Wollstonecraft: A Revolutionary Life (2000, paperback edn. London: Phoenix Press, 2001)
• Marshall
• Locke
• StClair

This table lists the people this person is most frequently noted with in the diary.