By Eliana Greenberg and Koren Whipp
Lady Anne Halkett (née Murray) (c. 1621/2–99) was the daughter of Thomas Murray, tutor to the children of King James I and later Provost of Eton College, and Jane Drummond, governess to the children of King Charles I and his wife Henrietta Maria of France . Her mother was largely responsible for Halkett’s education, teaching her French, dance, music, and needlework. In addition, she received a deep and extensive religious education.[1]
Her life, however, was not limited to the church and quiet female pursuits. She participated in several risky operations during the English Civil War, including the rescue of the Duke of York, later King James II. In true cloak-and-dagger fashion, she disguised the Duke in women’s clothing, commenting in her autobiography that he “was very pretty in itt.”[2] She was romantically involved with a Royalist, Colonel Joseph Bampfield. Believing him to be a widower, she expected to marry him, but she was heartbroken when she discovered that his wife was still living.[3]
Halkett practiced medicine in Scotland, caring for soldiers injured in the ongoing civil war, and later became governess to the children of Sir James Halkett, a widower whom she married in 1656. Lady Anne had four children with Sir James Halkett, but only her second son, Robert Halkett , survived into adulthood.[4] At her husband’s death twenty years later, she was left in near poverty until King James II provided her with a pension for her services to him in the English Civil War.
In 1677 she wrote The Autobiography of Lady Anne Halkett in which she recounted her romantic and political experiences during the English Civil War. Lady Anne Halkett composed twenty-two manuscript volumes of life-writing in various forms over a period of fifty years, including Instructions for Youth: For the Use of those young Noblemen and Gentleman, whose Education was committed to her Care (1701); and religious writings, including Meditations on the twentieth and fifth Psalm (1701), and Select and Occasional Meditations. [5]
[1] Lady Anne Halkett, The Autobiography of Anne Lady Halkett, ed. John Gough Nichols (Westminster: Printed for the Camden Society, 1875), 2.
[2] Halkett, The Autobiography of Anne Lady Halkett, 22.
[3] Halkett, The Autobiography of Anne Lady Halkett, ix.
[4] Suzanne Trill, “Lady Anna Halket,” Mary Hays, Female Biography; or, Memoirs of Illustrious and Celebrated Women, of All Ages and Countries (1803). Chawton House Library Series: Women’s Memoirs, ed. Gina Luria Walker, Memoirs of Women Writers Part II (Pickering & Chatto: London, 2013), vol. 8, 387-88, editorial notes, 595-96, on 595.
[5] Trill, “Lady Anna Halket,” vol. 8, 387-88, editorial notes, 595-96, on 595.
Bibliography
Biographium Faemineum, The Female Worthies: Or, Memoirs of the Most Illustrious Ladies of All Ages and Nations… Printed for S. Crowder [etc.], 1766.
Halkett, Lady Anne. The Autobiography of Anne Lady Halkett, ed. John Gough Nichols. Westminster: Printed for the Camden Society, 1875.
Halkett, Anne. Lady Anne Halkett: Selected Self-Writings. ed. Suzanne Trill. Aldershot: Ashgate, c. 2007.
Hays, Mary. “Lady Anna Halket,” Female Biography; or Memoirs of Illustrious and Celebrated Women of all Ages and Countries (6 volumes) (London: R. Phillips, 1803), vol. 4, 385-86.
Trill, Suzanne. “Lady Anna Halket.” Mary Hays, Female Biography; or, Memoirs of Illustrious and Celebrated Women, of All Ages and Countries (1803). Chawton House Library Series: Women’s Memoirs, ed. Gina Luria Walker, Memoirs of Women Writers Part II. Pickering & Chatto: London, 2013, vol. 8, 387-88, editorial notes, 595-96.
Resources:
Brooklyn Museum
Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art: The Dinner Party: Heritage Floor: Anne Halkett
https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/eascfa/dinner_party/heritage_floor/anne_halkett.php
Page citation:
Eliana Greenberg and Koren Whipp. “Anne Halkett.” Project Continua (November 19, 2013): Ver. 2, [date accessed], http://www.projectcontinua.org/anne-halkett/
Tags: Age of Discovery, Autobiographers, Baroque, Europe, Nurses, Spies
