Anne Kingsmill Finch, Countess of Winchilsea (1661–1720)

Anne Finch, née Kingsmill, was born to an aristocratic family in Syndmonton, Hampshire, England. Her parents were Sir William Kingsmill and his wife Anne Haslewood. Anne never knew her father, as he died only five months after her birth. In his will, he specified that his daughters should receive financial support for their education equal to that of their brother, which was highly unusual in that era. Her mother remarried in 1662 to Sir Thomas Ogle, and later gave Anne a half-sister, Dorothy Ogle. Anne and Dorothy were close for most of their lives, inspiring Anne to write poems such as "Some Reflections: In a Dialogue Between Teresa and Ardelia" and "To my Sister Ogle." The sisters received a comprehensive and progressive education, and Anne learned Greek and Roman mythology, the Bible, French and Italian, history, poetry, and drama. In 1682, Anne was sent to London to be a maid-of-honor to Mary of Modena, the wife of James, Duke of York, who later became King James II. There she met the courtier Col. Heneage Finch, whom she married in 1684. It was a famously happy marriage and Anne wrote several love poems to her husband, including the beautiful "A Letter to Daphnis" (1685). However, seeing other women's literary efforts derided at court, she mostly kept her writing secret until much later in life. Her works often expressed a desire for respect as a female writer, and allude to other female authors of the time such as Aphra Behn and Katherine Phillips. In 1690, the Finches moved to his family's estate at Eastwell Park, Kent, where they would live for more than 25 years. Her husband encouraged Anne's writing, served as her amanuensis, and suggested her pen name of "Ardelia." These years in the country were her most productive writing period. In 1701, the Finches returned to London, where Anne made some new, influential friends, including Jonathan Swift, Nicholas Rowe, and Alexander Pope, who encouraged her to publish under her own name. Anne's husband became Earl of Winchilsea in 1712, making her Countess of Winchilsea. The only major collection of her writings that appeared in her lifetime was Miscellany Poems, on Several Occasions (1713). Her works fell into obscurity after her death, until William Wordsworth praised them in an essay in his 1815 volume Lyrical Ballads. A major collection entitled The Poems of Anne, Countess of Winchilsea, edited by Myra Reynolds, was published in 1903. The Wellesley Manuscript, which contained 53 of her unpublished poems, edited by Jean M. Ellis D'Alessandro, was released in 1988. Anne Finch now is regarded as one of the key female poets of the Restoration Era.