Bridget Bennet born Bridget Howe was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
book collector. She lived at two houses and her husband was a member of Parliament who became
Baron Ossulston. Her notes and the changing lists of her books give an insight into her interests, book-lending and self-education.
Life
Bennet's birthplace and date are unknown, but she was the daughter of John Grobham Howe (1625–1679) and Lady Annabella Scroope (d. 1704). Her father came from
Langar Langar may refer to:
Community eating
*Langar (Sikhism)
* Langar (Sufism)
Places
Afghanistan
*Langar, Badakhshan, Afghanistan
* Langar, Bamyan, Afghanistan
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in Nottinghamshire and her mother was the illegitimate daughter of
Emmanuel, first earl of Sunderland. In 1668, she was in Paris and in 1673 she got married. Her new husband
Sir John Bennet
Sir John Bennet (1553 – 15 February 1627) was a judge and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1597 and 1621. His career ended in controversy after he was found guilty of extorting bribes and excessive fees.
Education
Benne ...
was a
Knight of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as one ...
he was a Lieutenant of the
Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms
His Majesty's Body Guard of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen at Arms is a bodyguard to the British Monarch. Until 17 March 1834, they were known as The Honourable Band of Gentlemen Pensioners.
Formation
The corps was formed as the Troop of Ge ...
.
Her new husband had been a member of Parliament for a decade and he had houses in Golden Square in Westminster and Dawley in
Harlington, Middlesex.
Her husband became Lord Ossulston, Baron Ossulston on 24 November 1682.
[
On the 4 May 1699 she had over 200 books and three of them were not in English. We know this because she kept records. She had been a widow for four years at this point. Her first known catalogue of her library of books was dated 1680 but it appears to have been kept up to date until 1689. That catalogue was of over 220 books but there was a large variation in the two lists. The 1680 list included 35 books in French including leading women authors ]Hortense Mancini
Hortense Mancini, Duchesse de Mazarin (6 June 1646 – 2 July 1699), was a niece of Cardinal Mazarin, chief minister of France, and a mistress of Charles II, King of England, Scotland, and Ireland. She was the fourth of the five famous Mancini si ...
, Marie-Catherine de Villedieu
Marie-Catherine de Villedieu, born Marie-Catherine Desjardins and generally referred to as Madame de Villedieu (1640 – 20 October 1683) was a French writer of plays, novels and short fiction. Largely forgotten or eclipsed by other writers of th ...
and Madame de La Fayette
Marie-Madeleine Pioche de La Vergne, Comtesse de La Fayette ( baptized 18 March 1634 – 25 May 1693), better known as Madame de La Fayette, was a French writer; she authored ''La Princesse de Clèves'', France's first historical novel and on ...
. The differences in the collections may be due to sharing books. She lent books to others, including her nephew (and the King's son) Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton
Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton, (28 September 16639 October 1690) was an illegitimate son of King Charles II of England and his mistress Barbara Villiers. A military commander, Henry FitzRoy was appointed colonel of the Grenadier Guards i ...
, "Mrs Reverwest" and over a dozen books to her son Charles.[
The lists show her changing interests particularly an interest in medicine at the time that her daughter died and in the education of women. She owned modern writings including "A dialogue concerning women, being a defence of the sex written to Eugenia" written by William Walsh in 1691, ]Nahum Tate
Nahum Tate ( ; 1652 – 30 July 1715) was an Irish poet, hymnist and lyricist, who became Poet Laureate in 1692. Tate is best known for ''The History of King Lear'', his 1681 adaptation of Shakespeare's ''King Lear'', and for his libretto for ...
’s "A Present for the Ladies: being an Historical Vindication of the Female Sex" from the following year and John Dunton
John Dunton (4 May 1659 – 1733) was an English bookseller and author. In 1691 he founded The Athenian Society to publish '' The Athenian Mercury'', the first major popular periodical and first miscellaneous periodical in England. In 1693, for ...
’s book "The Challenge sent by a young lady to Sir Thomas &c., or, The Female War" which was published in 1697. These three are all supportive of women at the time and she owned them soon after their publication.[
It is unclear when she died, but in 1722 the catalogue created of over 700 books was probably after her death and it was after the death of her son ]Charles
Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...
. The books were valued at £115 and one third of the these titles were present in her earlier catalogues. However nearly half of the books that she owned in 1680 did not survive into the 1722 list.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bennet, Bridget
17th-century diarists
17th-century English women
17th-century scholars
English baronesses
English book and manuscript collectors
People from Harlington, London
People from Nottinghamshire (before 1974)