Emma and Marianne, born in the City of London, were daughters of Thomas Shank, Wine Merchant of Saint James, Clerkenwell, Middlesex, who died in 1841, and Lucy Holt Shank, born Lewes. They both stayed single. Emma appears not to have ever needed to work for her living, thanks to their father's wealth, but in 1851 Marianne was teaching in a school in Bedford Row, Worthing. She was a cousin of Mary Page, the owner of the school, and her mother Lucy was there too described as a Gentlewoman and Aunt of Mary Page. There were 11 pupils and 2 House Servants at the school, which, by 1867 was described as a Preparatory School.
At the same time, Emma was living with her brother, John, a Banker's Agent, in Smithfield.
By 1861 Emma was living in St Sepulchre, Middlesex, with her mother, described as a Wine Merchant, and sisters Lucy and Marianne.
In 1871, Emma and Marianne (then Governess) were living together in Tottenham and in 1881 Emma was in Hackney with her brother Henry, a widower, formerly a Banker's Clerk, and his son Thomas, a Commercial Clerk.
At that time, Marianne was living in Sutton with her niece Lucy, daughter of brother Henry.
Emma seems to have moved around her family, maybe the normal fate of a single woman in Victorian times! Finally, in 1891, she moved, with Marianne, to Gratwick Cottage in Crescent Road, both of them living on their own means.
She died 16 Dec 1893 and was buried in the Cemetery. Probate was given to Marianne.
Marianne lived in 7 rooms in Chalfont, Milton Street, with niece Lucy, also single, as her Companion, until her death in 1915.
Lucy did have to work for her living. In 1861 she was a Needlewoman and was working as a Domestic Servant in Southwick Green in 1891.
When Lucy died, still in Milton Street, in 1935, probate went to John Virrell Shank, a Waiter.
Shanks or Shank is a nickname for someone with particularly long legs, or some peculiarity of gait. The derivation is from the Old English pre 7th Century word "sceanca", meaning shin-bone, leg. Hence Shanks's pony!