 She spent most of her life in Clapham, Her social circle included Hannah More.Marianne Thornton was the paternal great-aunt of the novelist E. M. Forster, to whom she bequeathed the sum of £8,000 (the equivalent of about £990,000 in 2017) as a legacy in trust.Forster published a detailed biography of her in 1956, bringing her life to national attention.