In 1729 Anne was sent to school in Trowbridge. We do not know if the school was linked to the academy in the same town but the academy was there from around 1712 to around 1743.
The academy appears to have been established by John Davisson, pastor to the General Baptist congregation in Trowbridge. Davisson was succeeded to both the pastoral charge and office of tutor by Thomas Lucas (d 1741) in 1721. In 1737 the academy was voted a supply of books by the General Baptist church at Paul's Alley, London. [See Jerom Murch, A History of the Presbyterian and General Baptist Churches in the West of England (London, 1835), 72-3] Lucas apparently died a Unitarian. In 1736, there was a secession from the church. They formed the Back Street congregation, which we have mentioned was pastored by Nathaniel Rawlings of Bourton who came later to Broughton.
According to Timothy Whelan the boarding school for young ladies was run by Katherine Hurn(e). Mrs Hurn’s husband, John Hurn(e), was a deacon in the Baptist chapel at Conigre Hill, Trowbridge. There, relations of the Steeles - the Cators, Froudes, Gays and Cottles - all worshipped.
During her time in Trowbridge, Anne lived in the home of her cousin, Grace Cottle. Another cousin, Elizabeth Gay (b. 1715), also attended Mrs Hurn’s school at the same time. Anne’s first bouts with tertian malaria occurred during her school days (1729-31).
