Anne Coventry, Countess of Coventry (1673–1763)

Anne Coventry
A portrait (ignore what its says on the painting) by Godfrey Kneller
Born	22 July 1673
Died	14 February 1763 Snitterfield
Nationality	British

Anne Coventry or Anne Somerset (22 July 1673 – 14 February 1763) was a British religious writer. She married Thomas Coventry, 2nd Earl of Coventry.

Life

Anne Somerset was born in 1673. Her mother was Mary Capel who was a botanist and gardener and her father was Henry Somerset who became the first Duke of Beaufort. Anne helped found a girls' school in Chelsea. She married Thomas Coventry, 2nd Earl of Coventry in 1691 and in the same year she was painted by Godfrey Kneller.^[1] In 1707 her book The Right Honourable Anne, countess of Coventry's meditations and reflections, moral and divine was published. Her husband died in 1710. Her book was republished in 1727. Contemporary biographies note that she was a pious and well read woman who owned her own library.^[2]

Coventry died in 1763 in Snitterfield.^[2]

References

1. Lady Anne Somerset, Godfrey Kneller, BBC
2. Emma Major, 'Coventry , Anne, countess of Coventry (1673–1763)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 accessed 28 Nov 2014