Susanna Temple, Lady Lister (formerly Thornhurst; 1600-1669) was an English courtier. A daughter of Alexander Temple of

Etchingham Etchingham is a village and civil parish in the Rother District, Rother district of East Sussex in southern England. The village is located approximately southeast of Royal Tunbridge Wells in Kent and northwest of Hastings, on the A265 road ...

and Mary Penistone, ''nee'' Mary Sommer or Somers (a daughter of John Somers), she is said to have been a

maid of honour A maid of honour is a junior attendant of a queen in royal households. The position was and is junior to the lady-in-waiting. The equivalent title and office has historically been used in most European royal courts. Tudors and Stuarts Traditi ...

Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I. She was List of Scottish royal consorts, Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and List of English royal consorts, Queen of Engl ...

. However, she is not known to be named in any records of the court. Her portrait was painted by Cornelius Johnson in 1620. She is depicted wearing a drop earring, including a

martlet A martlet in English heraldry is a mythical bird without feet that never roosts from the moment of its drop-birth until its death fall; martlets are proposed to be continuously on the wing. It is a compelling allegory for continuous effort, expr ...

, the bird is part of the Temple coat of arms. Another portrait was painted in 1621 by an artist working in the manner of

Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger Marcus Gheeraerts (also written as Gerards or Geerards; 1561/62 – 19 January 1636) was a Flemish artist working at the Tudor court, described as "the most important artist of quality to work in England in large-scale between Eworth and van ...

. There is also a miniature in the manner of

Nicholas Hilliard Nicholas Hilliard ( – before 7 January 1619) was an English goldsmith and limner best known for his portrait miniatures of members of the courts of Elizabeth I and James I of England. He mostly painted small oval miniatures, but also some l ...

, with her hair down. She married Sir Gifford Thornhurst of Agney Court, Kent (d. 1627), the son of William Thornhurst (d. 1606) and Anne Howard, a daughter of Thomas Howard, Viscount Bindon. Their daughter Frances, born after the death of Gifford in 1627, and named after one of his sisters, was the mother of Sarah Jennings, Duchess of Marlborough. In 1626 her sister-in-law Grace Thornhurst (d. 1636) married the poet Mildmay Fane. Her brother-in-law, Thomas Thornhurst wrote a description of

Lanzarote Lanzarote (, , ) is a Spanish island, the easternmost of the Canary Islands, off the north coast of Africa and from the Iberian Peninsula. Covering , Lanzarote is the fourth-largest of the islands in the archipelago. With 163,230 inhabi ...

. As a widow she was involved in litigation over a debt to

Sir John Lambe Sir John Lambe (1566? – 1647) was an English jurist, closely associated with the ecclesiastical policy of William Laud. Life He was probably born about 1566, graduated B.A. at St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1587, and M.A. in 1590. In th ...

. Her second husband was Sir Martin Lister of

Thorpe Arnold Thorpe Arnold is a farming village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Waltham on the Wolds and Thorpe Arnold in the district of Borough of Melton, Melton, which is approximately northeast of Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, England. ...

, nephew of Matthew Lister, one of Anne of Denmark's physicians, and friend of

Mary Sidney Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke ( Sidney, 27 October 1561 – 25 September 1621) was among the first Englishwomen to gain notice for her poetry and her literary patronage. By the age of 39, she was listed with her brother Philip Sidney and ...

. Their son

Martin Lister Martin Lister (12 April 1639 – 2 February 1712) was an English natural history, naturalist and physician. His daughters Anne Lister (illustrator), Anne and Susanna Lister, Susanna were two of his illustrators and engravers. J. D. Woodley, 'L ...

became physician to Queen Anne. Some of her letters to Martin at college in Oxford survive.Anna Marie Roos, ''The Correspondence of Dr Martin Lister: 1662–1677'', vol. 1 (Leiden: Brill, 2015), p. 141. She died in 1669.

External links

Portrait of Susanna Temple, Later Lady Lister, Tate

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Temple, Susanna 1600 births 1669 deaths English maids of honour Household of Anne of Denmark People from Etchingham Wives of knights Date of birth unknown Date of death unknown