Grace Gethin (; 1676 – 1697) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

essayist. She died young and her parents paid for memorials to her.

Life

Grace Gethin memorial a 1723 engraving by James Cole

Gethin was born in 1676, probably at

Abbotsleigh Abbotsleigh is an independent Anglican Pre-school education, early learning, primary, secondary Day school, day, and Boarding school, boarding school for Single-sex school, girls located in Wahroonga, on the Upper North Shore (Sydney), Upper N ...

. She was the last child of

Frances Norton, Lady Norton Frances, Lady Norton (; 1644 – 20 February 1731) was an English religious poet and prose writer who primarily wrote about grief Grief is the response to the loss of something deemed important, particularly to the death of a person to ...

and her husband Sir George Norton. They had already had two children who had died young. Gethin married an Irish aristocrat, Sir Richard Gethin, 2nd

Baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

, of Gethinsgrott,

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

. They had no children. After her death, her widower remarried Sarah Farnham, by whom he had at least one son, the third Sir Richard. He died in 1709, aged 35. She died aged 21 after taking communion the day before. She was buried in Hollingbourne Church where there is a memorial to her. Her parents paid for another memorial in Westminster Abbey and a sermon to be read every

Ash Wednesday Ash Wednesday is a holy day of prayer and fasting in many Western Christian denominations. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and marks the first day of Lent: the seven weeks of Christian prayer, prayer, Religious fasting#Christianity, fasting and ...

to remember her life. Her mother wrote books about her grief. After her death, 29 essays were published with her as the nominal author. Later analysis reveals that

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of nat ...

's words appear without attribution in a quarter of them.

References

1676 births 1697 deaths 17th-century English women writers 17th-century English writers English essayists Wives of baronets {{England-writer-stub