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| Perdita woman: Agnes Wenman |
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Biography Agnes Wenman (c. 1573-1617), the daughter of Sir George Fermor of Easton Neston, Northants (1550-1612) and his wife Mary nee Curzon(fl. 1570-1628), was the first wife of Richard Wenman (1573-1640), eldest son of Sir Thomas Wenman of Thame Park, Oxfordshire (d.1577) and his wife Jane nee West (fl. 1572-1613), daughter of William West, first lord De La Warr of the second creation. Richard Wenman, who lived at Thame Park, was knighted by the Earl of Essex at the taking of Cadiz in 1596 and served, after his wife's death, both as a Member of Parliament and as sheriff for Oxfordshire. In 1628 he was created Baron Wenman of Kilmainham, Meath, and Viscount Wenman of Tuam. He remarried three times after his Agnes Wenman's death. Agnes Wenman came from a Catholic background and was related to the recusant Vaux family (Anstruther, 247). She came briefly under suspicion at the time of the Gunpowder Plot as a result of an incriminating letter sent to her by Elizabeth Vaux and intercepted by her mother-in-law (Anstruther 1953). According to John Morris (1881), Wenman was an associate of the Jesuit Father John Gerard . Her translation of Zonaras's Epitome of History, found in three manuscripts in Cambridge University Library MS Mm, 3, 32, MS Dd, 1, 18 and MS Dd, 1, 19) is her only known piece of writing. Agnes Wenman's son Thomas, in later life a prominent Parliamentarian, was an associate of the poets William Browne and William Bass during his time at the Inner Temple (A.J.A.). Biography by Jonathan Gibson. See also new ODNB entry for 'Wenman [nee Fermor], Agnes (1573-1617).' |
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Cambridge University
Library: MS Dd.1.18 Cambridge University
Library: MS Mm.3.32 Cambridge University
Library: MS Dd.1.19 |