Ann Fanshawe, Lady Fanshawe (25 March 1625 – 20 January 1680) was an English memoirist and author best known for her memoirs written during the English Civil War. A recipe for ice cream in her 1665 book is thought to be the earliest recorded in Europe.:File:Ice Cream recipe by Lady Ann Fanshawe Wellcome L0063564.jpg
Her recipe for "icy cream" is recorded as follows: "Take three pints of the best cream, boil it with a blade of Mace or else perfume it with orange flower water or Ambergreece, sweeten the Cream, with sugar let it stand till it is quite cold, then put it into Boxes, ether of Silver or tinn, then take, Ice chopped into small pieces and put it into a tub and set the Boxes in the Ice covering them all over, and let them stand in the Ice two hours, and the Cream Will come to be Ice in the Boxes, then turn them out into a salvar with some of the same seasoned Cream, so serve it up to the Table."
Early life and education
Ann (or Anne) Harrison was born on 25 March 1625 in the parish of St Olave Hart Street, London. She was the eldest daughter of Sir John Harrison of Hertfordshire and Margaret Fanshawe and great grandchild of Christopher Gardiner of Urswick, Lancashire. She had three brothers and a sister. Her childhood was spent in London and at Balls Park, Hertford.
Her mother took great pains with her education, directing her attention more especially to domestic usefulness. Fanshawe liked not only French, needlework and music, but she also enjoyed riding and running. She described herself with hindsight as "what we graver people call a hoyting girle."Davidson, Peter; "Fanshawe, Ann, Lady Fanshawe (1625–1680)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004. Retrieved 22 January 2015
Her mother died in July 1640, when Fanshawe was fifteen years old. Following her death, Fanshawe was left capable of managing her father's household with discretion and economy. Her father remarried, and had a son and a daughter by his second wife.Ann Fanshawe Biography, University of Warwick. Retrieved 17 October 2014
Scholars have studied Ann Fanshawe's early life as a significant influence on her later writing. Fanshawe's upbringing in a Royalist household influenced her ideas on how she viewed family, politics, and personal responsibility during the English Civil War. Her education included household skills, literacy, and social behavior which was typical for women in her social class. Fanshawe's experiences with motherhood and family loss played a huge role in her writing, particularly her emotional reflections on grief and survival. These early experiences influenced and shaped her memoir.
Career Ann's family was Royalist and they moved with the court to Oxford during the English Civil War. However, since her father was a fierce royalist the war brought hardships upon her family when the war broke out. They ultimately had to flee to Oxford where they resided. Her memoir she wrote provides great detail on the lifestyle and hardships her family endured during the time. In 1644, at the age of nineteen, she married at Wolvercote near Oxford, her second cousin, Richard (later Sir Richard) Fanshawe (1608–1666). subscription required He was also Royalist and was secretary of war to Prince Charles. They had 14 children, of whom four daughters and a son survived into adulthood.A link between the arduous travels of the Fanshawes and the early loss of many of their children is posited in Antonia Fraser: The Weaker Vessel: Woman's Lot in Seventeenth-Century England, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1984, Chapter 4
In 1645, she accompanied Fanshawe to Spain, where he became Secretary to the British Embassy. Upon returning to England, her husband supported himself strenuously in the cause of Charles I of England. He was taken prisoner at the Battle of Worcester in 1651, and for a time closely confined. His wife, not being permitted to visit him, exposed herself to great hardships in order to alleviate his painful solitude by standing to converse with him outside his window in the middle of the night and in bad weather. On his release, they withdrew to Tankersley Park, in Yorkshire, where he occupied himself with poetry and literature, and his wife turned to writing as well. A book of cookery and medicaments was compiled by Lady Fanshawe,"Lady Ann Fanshawe's book of cookery and medical receipts", University of Warwick. Retrieved 17 October 2014 the earliest entries, by an amanuensis, dating from 1651."Recipe Book of Lady Ann Fanshawe", World Digital Library Retrieved 18 October 2014 Her recipe for ice cream is thought to be the earliest recorded in Europe.Day, Ivan; "Lady Ann Fanshawe's Icy Cream", Food History Jottings, Google - Blogger, 5 April 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2014
Fanshawe's memoir is considered an important example of early modern women's autobiographical writing. Her writing shows how women in diplomatic families were involved in political life in indirect ways through travel, attending events, and managing the household. Her memoir also explains court life, customs, and political events in detail, which gives insight into the seventeenth century. Scholars explain that her writing has both personal experiences, and political experiences, due to her Royalist background.
During Fanshawe's travels with her husband, she wrote about her experiences in Spain, and France, giving insight into the travel conditions during the English Civil War era. These travel experiences exposed her to different political environments, and cultural traditions. Although Fanshawe did not hold a political position, her writing reflects her understanding of diplomacy through her lived experiences. Her observations of court life, clothing, and customs, show how women like her contributed to documenting and explaining political life around them.
They spent the latter years of the Civil War and the Interregnum travelling, for instance to Caen, Paris, The Hague, Ireland, Madrid, and Flanders, as well as London, Yorkshire, Huntingdonshire, Hertfordshire and Bath, Somerset. Richard published translations and kept in touch with the royal family. The family joined Charles II in Flanders, Richard was appointed Latin secretary and master of requests, and knighted at Breda in 1656.
After the Restoration, Richard represented the University of Cambridge in Parliament, went to Portugal to help broker Charles II's marriage to Catherine of Braganza, and served as ambassador to Portugal (1662–63) and to Spain (1664–1666). Richard died suddenly in 1666 in Madrid, after which, the widow and her family returned to England. In the first anguish of bereavement, she was exposed to such distressing poverty that she long wanted pecuniary means to deliver his remains to the tomb of his ancestors, and to maintain support of her children. Sir Richard's salary was in arrear, and no remittances could be obtained from the Ministers of the profligate King. The Queen of Spain offered Lady Fanshawe and her five children a handsome provision, on condition of their conforming to the Roman Catholic Church, but the widow withstood the temptation, even while the embalmed corpse of her husband lay daily in her sight. Means were furnished at last by the Queen Dowager of Spain, the removal to England was effected, and Sir Richard's remains were interred within the chapel of St. Mary in the church of Ware.
Later life In widowhood, Fanshawe devoted herself to the education of her children, to acts of benevolence, and to self-improvement. In 1676, Fanshawe transcribed the manuscript Memoir of her husband (now held in the British Library) for private family circulation. It was addressed to their son Richard and began with conventional biblical and other admonitions. It is interspersed with descriptions of Richard's character as one for his son to emulate, it provides a colourful account of their adventures, and carefully observed details of clothing and customs encountered in their travels. It was also intended to vindicate the family's financial claims against the government and ends abruptly in 1671."A scribal copy of Ann Fanshawe's memoirs, with corrections in Fanshawe's own hand", University of Warwick. Retrieved 17 October 2014Cadman Seelig, Sharon; Autobiography and Gender in Early Modern Literature: Reading Women's Lives..., Cambridge University Press (2006), p. 90 ff. There is a modern edition of the Memoir.Halkett, Anne Murray and Ann Fanshawe; Memoirs of Anne, Lady Halkett, and Ann, Lady Fanshawe, ed. John Loftis. Oxford University Press, 1979.
Scholars often describe Fanshawe's writing as an example of the seventeenth century women's life writing, which were shaped by household responsibilities and political experiences.
Death and legacy She died on 20 January 1680, in Ware, Hertfordshire, where she was buried at St Mary's Church. There is a portrait in oils of Lady Fanshawe by Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen held at the Valence House Museum in Dagenham, London, a gift from a descendant in 1963."Ann Fanshawe (1625–1680), Wife of Sir Richard Fanshawe", Your Paintings, BBC. Retrieved 17 October 2014
Modern scholars discuss Ann Fanshawe as an important figure in early English literature and women's history. Fanshawe's writing provides valuable insight into how women expressed themselves, their emotions, and their strength during the times of political and personal adversity. Her memoirs are studied not only for their historical detail, but also for its contribution to understanding women's roles in early modern history. In addition, her recipe writings, contribute to her legacy as both a household writer and historical writer.
Style and themes The following extract of her Memoir shows her character as well as her husband's:
References
Bibliography
Further reading Davidson Peter; "Fanshawe, Ann, Lady Fanshawe (1625–1680)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 Cadman Seelig, Sharon; Autobiography and Gender in Early Modern Literature: Reading Women's Lives, 1600-1680. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
External links
Recipe book of Lady Ann Fanshawe (wellcome collection)