Anne Townshend

Anne Bacon was the daughter of Sir Nathaniel Bacon of Stiffkey, Norfolk (1546-November 1622) and Anne Gresham (1549-1594). Raised as a puritan, Anne was sent at the age of eighteen to a puritan boarding school in Dickleborough, Norfolk and she remained there until she married John Townshend of Raynham (1567/8-August 2, 1590) in December 1593. Some sources incorrectly say Sir Ralph but give the same life dates. Anne's husband had an "aggressive and violent" nature, made worse by the fact that the young couple were obliged to live on the charity of their parents. John's mother, Jane (née Stanhope) (c.1547-1618) held a life interest in the Thownshend estates, even after her remarriage in 1598 to Henry, Lord Berkeley. The death of Anne's mother and the possibility that her father would remarry and sire a son meant she might no longer inherit her father's properties at Stiffkey, Langham, and Morston. This did not happen, but John died in debt, having sold off most of his land to his mother. Lady Berkeley also obtained the wardship of the heir, Anne's oldest son, Roger (November 1595-January 1, 1637). Her other children were Anne and Stanhope (c.1597-c.1620). In around 1605, Anne was being courted by Sir George Southcote (d. c.1638) but did not marry him. She was one of a number of puritan women who supported radical clergymen. The Bacon-Townshend Collection of letters written between 1550 and 1640 is at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Anne was buried on the same day as her father was buried at Stiffkey, Norfolk. Biography: Oxford DNB entry under “Townshend [n%C3%A9e Bacon], Anne.”