Literary Encyclopedia

Lady Anne Halkett

  • Suzanne Trill (University of Edinburgh)

In the first extant volume of Occationall Meditations (fl. 1658/9) in an entry entitled “Upon the report of new troubles like to begin,” Lady Anne Halkett beings with the following observation: “I am not very old; yett I haue Seene Such changes as those that hath liued hundreds of yeares hath nott Seene the like” (NLS. Ms. 6490: 56). At the age of 37, Lady Anne Halkett had indeed already experienced tumultuous events, not the least of which being the Civil Wars; however, as she did not die until 1699, more turbulence was to come. Until recently, most accounts of Lady Anne Halkett’s life and experiences have been exclusively based upon her autobiographical Memoirs (fl.1667-166

This article in full comprises 2292 words but only the first 150 or so words are available to non-members. All our articles have been written recently by experts in their field, more than 95% of them university professors. To read about membership, please click here.

First published 15 November 2004

Citation: Trill, Suzanne. "Lady Anne Halkett". The Literary Encyclopedia. 15 November 2004

[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1938, accessed 30 July 2010.]

 

Life, Works and Times

Dates:

  • c. 1621 to 1699 (Life Span)
  • 1644 to 1699 (Activity Span)

Places:

  • England (Birth)
  • England (Primary Activity)
  • Scotland (Primary Activity)
  • Netherlands (Other Activity)

Cultural Identities:

  • Feminist (Other)

Activities:

  • Autobiographer (Primary)
  • Letter-writer/ Diarist (Primary)
  • Man/ Woman of Letters (Primary)
  • Political writer (Primary)
  • Biographer (Other)
  • Educationalist (Other)
  • Hymnist/ Psalmist (Other)