Fanshawe, Anne (1625 -1680)

Sir Richard Fanshawe (1608 1666) was the fifth son of Sir Henry Fanshawe of Ware Park in Hertfordshire, and Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Smythe. He entered Jesus College, Cambridge as a Fellow Commoner in 1623, whence he removed to the Inner Temple in 1626. Intended for the law he chose to travel on the continent where he showed an aptitude for foreign languages and was employed by the English Ambassador to the Court of Spain as his Secretary. On returning to England he accepted the post of Remembrancer of the Exchequer. Almost at once the Civil War supervened, and he hastened to offer his services to the royalist cause. In 1644 he married at Oxford Anne Harrison, elder daughter of John Harrison of Balls, in Hertfordshire, another ardent royalist family. He was employed extensively by the young Charles II, and was created a Baronet in 1650. Stamp 1 was used on copies of Sir Richard's works bound for presentation, probably by his widow, and stamp 2 and possibly stamp1 were used on her own books. Of their six sons, only the youngest, Richard, survived his father. He became the 2nd Baronet, who is said to have been rendered deaf and dumb by a fever, and died unmarried in 1694. The Fanshawe library was sold en bloc in 1894 to H. R. G. Marriott of Abbot's Hall, Braintree in Essex by Mr T. G. Fanshawe. The charges on the stamp are hatched but not in accordance with the conventional system invented by Petra Santa.