Miss Annie Dunbar Masson
(1832-1900)
17 December 1861

Born at Blackheath on 27 June 1832, Phoebe (‘Annie’) Anne Masson was the daughter of merchant John Masson and his wife Margaret née Dunbar.

In 1854 she published Legends of the Dunbars, and other poems. By one of their descendants. In 1860 she had printed for private circulation a volume of her poetry titled Sir Ninian; A Tale of Chivalry, and other poems.

When the census was taken in 1861 she was living at 50 Porchester Terrace in Bayswater, the home of her uncle, the fabulously wealthy shipowner and merchant Duncan Dunbar. 

On his death in 1862 Annie inherited a share of her uncle’s £1,000,000 estate.

On 25 February 1869 at Christ Church, Lancaster Gate, she married Baron Otto Carl Emil von Gilsa, son of Baron Friedrich von Gilsa. According to one announcement of the marriage, her husband was a ‘Captain Imperial and Royal Engineers, Chamberlain to his Majesty the Emperor of Austria.’ The marriage was performed by the Reverend Derwent Coleridge, Rector of Hanwell (Wexford Independent, 3 March 1869).

In 1871 the couple were either living with or visiting Annie’s sister Elizabeth at 50 Porchester Terrace, Bayswater, previously the home of their uncle Duncan Dunbar. Also present on the night of the census were their two young children Fritz and Margaret, the latter just one month old. The household also included a paid companion and nine servants. The following year Annie gave birth to twins Otto and Charles (Pall Mall Gazette, 7 August 1872) but both boys died the following month. Another daughter was born in 1874.

In 1886 Annie translated some of the poems included in an anthology titled Sonnets of Europe. In 1893 she contributed an article titled ‘Some Legends of Eastern Europe’ to the magazine Good Words.

Baron Otto von und zu Gilsa of Völkerhausen, Germany, died on 27 March 1895.

Baroness Phoebe Anne von und zu Gilsa died on 21 November 1900.