Anne Hartman
Anne Hartman was the wife of John Hartman and the mother of Yvonne Hartman (AUDIO: The Rockery) and her brother. (AUDIO: One Rule)
Biography
Early life
Anne served in the British Army until she was thirty and left "dripping in commendations". She married John Hartman and had two children; a son and a daughter, Yvonne. As John worked in the army, the family moved around a lot. When John decided to work in security instead, Anne became the chief breadwinner, running acquisitions for the Land Registry. She was respected throughout the civil service.
Although John wanted Yvonne to attend a boarding school, Anne insisted that she attend the local comprehensive instead so as to allow her to mix with people of varying backgrounds. She made Yvonne a large amount of friendship bracelets when she was thirteen until she learnt that she was selling them at school. She once read Yvonne's diary.
Anne lived with John in Kent, where they had a wild garden that John planned to sort out and maintain once he had retired. The two were aware of Yvonne's career and success at Torchwood One and knew about aliens and the like. In 2003, a month prior to his retirement, John suffered a heart attack at his desk and died before Anne could get to the hospital. (AUDIO: The Rockery)
After John's death
Anne was unable to continue living in Kent and looking at the garden and so moved to Kensington. She received infrequent visits from Yvonne, sometimes at Christmas, and continued to work. She suffered from depression which she tried to keep secret. She felt that Yvonne had ruined a cousin's cremation by being picked up by a helicopter partway through.
In 2007, Anne felt that her job at the Land Registry had become too much and she resigned, unable to find joy in her work. Anne planned to move to Shropshire but did not inform Yvonne, who only found out when a bank teller called her to query the purchase of the cottage. She arrived at Anne's flat and insisted on driving her mother there, having not previously seen her since Christmas 2005.
Yvonne gave her a haunt to look after, from one of the three moons of Pretal, telling her that it was her duty to help with governmental matters, lest she lose her government pension, thanks to a clause in her contract. Anne did not wish to care for the plant and enlisted her neighbour William Hogan to care for it until Yvonne found out. During a depressive episode, following Yvonne not visiting when promised, Anne left an irate and emotional message with Yvonne's PA, as Yvonne was not answering her mobile phone. Subsequently, she attempted to kill it with weed killer. Anne failed to collect her prescription medication for her depression, which was noted by Yvonne, who also later collected it for her.
Feeling bad, Anne began to properly care for the haunt but helped Yvonne kill it after it began killing squirrels, birds and a cat, because of her attempted killing of it some weeks prior. Yvonne told Anne that she knew of her battle with depression and she promised to visit her more often after the Ghost Shifts were concluded. (AUDIO: The Rockery)
After Yvonne's death
Yvonne died in the Battle of Canary Wharf not long after the haunt ordeal. (TV: Doomsday) Anne grieved for her but remained strong, receiving comfort from a regrown and peaceful haunt and from William, with whom she entered into a romantic relationship.
On the one year anniversary of Yvonne's death, Anne mourned her but believed that she was in the Pretal paradise with John and that she would one day join her there. She chose not to let grief dictate her life and left the garden with William. (AUDIO: The Rockery)
Personality
Anne was a lover of sparkling rosé wine. She did not like cats. She initially found William to be "insufferably nice", that is "extremely annoying". She and Yvonne were remarkably similar, sharing many characteristics, being extremely competent and supremely independent. They also shared a dry wit. She disliked the words "nice" and "lovely", suggesting that Yvonne needed a thesaurus after using these words. Her late husband also notably used these words. (AUDIO: The Rockery)
