Rachel Bourchier, Countess of Bath

The Dowager Countess of Bath, later Countess of Middlesex

Rachel (or Rachael) Bourchier, Countess of Bath (28 January 1613 – 11 November 1680) was an English noblewoman and writer,[1] best known for her activities during the English Civil War. She was the wife of Henry Bourchier, 5th Earl of Bath.

She was born at Mereworth in Kent, the fifth daughter of Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland, by his wife Mary Mildmay, daughter of Sir Anthony Mildmay of Apethorpe Hall, where Rachel grew up. Rachel's brother, Mildmay Fane, 2nd Earl of Westmorland, was close to King Charles I of England, who was godfather to Fane's son in 1635; Mildmay was also a poet and dramatist. Another of Rachel's brothers was Colonel George Fane, who also supported the Royalist cause. As a teenager, Lady Rachel Fane is known to have written masques for performance at family entertainments. One of these was her "May Masque" of 1627.[2]

Memorial to Rachel, Countess of Bath, in St Peter's Church, Tawstock

She married Henry Bourchier of Tawstock in Devon on 13 December 1638, at the church of St Bartholomew the Great in London; she was aged 25 and her husband was 50. By 1642 the earl was active in the Royalist cause, and wrote to his wife from York and London about how things were progressing.[3] In December 1642, it is recorded that the House of Lords ordered Thomas Browne to return some horses he had commandeered from the countess on behalf of the parliamentary commander, Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex.[4]

The earl and countess had no children, but in 1663, Rachel became guardian of her nephew, Sir Henry Fane, the only child of her brother George.

When the earl died in 1654, Rachel arranged a striking monument in his memory, which survives in the south aisle chapel of St Peter's Church, Tawstock. Opinions vary as to its artistic merit, with William George Hoskins[5] calling it ugly, while J. H. Marland said it was "almost unequalled in singularity and absurdity".[6] It is constructed in black and white marble, with four dogs supporting the sarcophogus on their shoulders and a black obelisk at each corner.[7]

Six months after the earl's death, his widow married Lionel Cranfield, 3rd Earl of Middlesex, who was some years her junior.[8] Her new husband was a Gentleman of the Bedchamber to King Charles II of England. The marriage was not a happy one, and the couple lived apart from 1661 onwards. After Lionel's death in 1674, Rachel did not remarry.[9]

Legacy

The marble statue that stands in St Peter's Church, Tawstock, as a memorial to the Countess of Bath is actually a replica, probably by Balthasar Burman, of an earlier statue made in memory of Mary Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury.[7]

Sir Anthony van Dyck painted two portraits of Rachel, one prior to her marriage and another in 1641, for which she is recorded as paying him £20;[10] only an engraving of the latter by Pierre Lombart survives. A miniature of the countess by David des Granges is held by the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.[11]

In a 1670 work by Sir Kenelm Digby, a recipe for syllabub appears, attributed to the countess.[12]

References

  1. ↑ Caroline Bowden, "The Notebooks of Rachael Fane: Education or Authorship?," in: Early Modern Women's Manuscript Writing, edited by Victoria E. Burke and Jonathan Gibson; London, Ashgate, 2004; pp. 157-80.
  2. ↑ Nadia T. van Pelt. "Review of Deanne Williams, Shakespeare and the Performance of Girlhood (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014)". Journal of the Northern Renaissance. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
  3. ↑ "Letter from her husband Henry, Earl of Bath". The National Archives. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
  4. ↑ Gavin Robinson (22 April 2016). Horses, People and Parliament in the English Civil War: Extracting Resources and Constructing Allegiance. Routledge. p. 121. ISBN 978-1-317-12127-5.
  5. ↑ Hoskins, W.G., A New Survey of England: Devon, London, 1959 (first published 1954), p. 489
  6. ↑ Harris, G.T., "Some Memorials in Devon Churches", Devon Notes & Queries, XIV: 90
  7. 1 2 "Church of St Peter, Tawstock". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
  8. ↑ "Fane, Lady Rachel (Countess of Bath)". The Diary of Samuel Pepys. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
  9. ↑ "Middlesex, Earl of (E, 1622 - 1674)". Cracroft's Peerage. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
  10. ↑ Gray, Todd (1996), Devon Household Accounts, 1627–59, Part II, Henry, Fifth Earl of Bath and Rachel, Countess of Bath, 1637–1655, Exeter: Devon and Cornwall Record Society
  11. ↑ "Lady Rachel Fane, Countess of Middlesex, by Des Granges". Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
  12. ↑ "Lady Rachel Fane's Syllabub". Food jottings. 17 December 2011. Retrieved 14 August 2016.
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