Perdita woman: Ursula Wyvill

Biography

Ursula Wyvill, née Darcy or D'Arcy (1619-1680), was the daughter of Conyers, Lord Darcy and Conyers (Earl of Holdernesse) and Grace Rokeby. She married Sir Christopher Wyvill, 3rd baronet (1614-1681), M.P. and poet, in 1636. They lived at Constable Burton in Yorkshire from 1648 and had twelve children, of whom six survived them. Their marriage appears from the manuscript evidence to have been a happy one. Christopher, although from a staunch Catholic family, seems to have embraced Protestantism and even to have had Presbyterian leanings. Ursula's commonplace book displays her godliness as well as her interest in poetry (including extracts from the minor poets William Birchley (John Austin) and Alexander Ross).

Biography by Jill Seal Millman.

See also new ODNB entry for her husband: 'Wyvill, Sir Christopher (1614-1681).'


Beinecke Library: MS b.222
Devotional miscellany (c. 1662-1672)
Ursula Wyvill (Compiler)