Mary Vere (1581–1671) was an English
letter writer.
Background
She was born Mary Tracy, a daughter of Sir John Tracy (died 1591) of
Toddington, Gloucestershire and his wife Anne, a daughter of
Thomas Throckmorton (died 1568). Her brother Sir Thomas Tracy was a member of the household of
Anne of Denmark, as an usher of her privy chamber.
[Linda Levy Peck, ''Court Patronage and Corruption in Early Stuart England'' (Routledge, London, 1993), p. 72.]
Career
She married firstly, William Hoby (died 1603). They had two children.
In October or November 1607, she married the veteran soldier
Horace Vere.
Their children included:
* Elizabeth Vere, who married
John Holles, 2nd Earl of Clare
John Holles, 2nd Earl of Clare (13 June 1595 – 2 January 1666) was an English nobleman.
Family
Holles was born in Haughton, Nottinghamshire, the eldest son of John Holles, 1st Earl of Clare and Anne Stanhope, and the brother of Denzil Holles, ...
* Mary Vere, who married, (1) Sir Roger Townshend of
Raynham in Norfolk, (2)
Mildmay Fane, 2nd Earl of Westmorland
* Catherine Vere, who married, (1) Oliver St John, (2)
John Poulett, 2nd Baron Poulett
John Poulett, 2nd Baron Poulett DL (1615 – 15 September 1665), of Hinton St George in Somerset, was an English peer and Member of Parliament who fought on the Royalist side during the English Civil War.
The son of John Poulett, 1st Baron Pou ...
*
Anne Vere, who married
Sir Thomas Fairfax in 1637
* Dorothy Vere, who married John Wolstenholme, eldest son of Sir John Wolstenholme of
Nostell
Nostell is a village in the City of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, near Hemsworth. It is in the civil parish of Huntwick with Foulby and Nostell, which had a population of 90 in 2001, and 164 at the 2011 census (including Wintersett) ...
, Yorkshire
* Susanna Vere (1619–1623)
Mary Vere was a
Puritan. She wrote "God will provide" at the front of most of the books in her closet. In 1608 she donated a book to
Sir Thomas Bodley's library, and asked that it be inscribed in Latin as a gift from the daughter of Sir John Tracy. A number of religious works were dedicated to her.
She was widowed in 1635. Mary Vere lived at Hackney. Her chaplain Samuel Rogers kept a diary. He much preferred her to Margaret Denny, the widow of
Edward Denny, his previous patron.
[Jacqueline Eales, 'Mary, Lady Vere', Joanna Harris & Elizabeth Scott-Baumann, ''The Intellectual Culture of Puritan Women'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), p. 90.]
Death
At the death of the widow of Lord Vere's eldest brother, John Vere, she inherited
Kirby Hall, where she died on Christmas Eve 1671, aged 90.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vere, Mary
1581 births
1671 deaths
17th-century English women writers
English letter writers