Image: LadyRachelFane 1680 TawstockDevon

Description: Monument in St Peter's Church, Tawstock, North Devon, of Rachael Fane (1612/13-1680), fifth daughter of Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland, and wife of Henry Bourchier, 5th Earl of Bath (1593–1654) of Tawstock Court. Given by the Diocese of Bath and Wells, a white marble life-size standing female figure by Balthasar Burman, a replica of the statue made in 1671/2 by his father Thomas Burman of Mary Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury (1556–1632) situated in a niche in the Shrewsbury Tower of Second Court, the building of which she financed, in St John's College, Oxford The Latin inscription is as follows: Rachel Comitissa Henrico digna, vix altera e sexu vel animo, vel virtute aequipollens Rebus domesticis, civilibus, sacris, ingenio plusquam virili, at materno (quo suo tempore vix maius dabatur in terris) Ecclesiae Anglicanae Filia humilis, et devota, et iniquis temporibus eiectorum Patrum mater et hie pene unica fautrix Unicum Lugendum quod in se perjisset nobile Bourchieri nomen, ni sat illa habuit virtutum vel illud immortale reddere Et liset improlis plus mille liberorum Parens, quos liberalissime educavit, dotavit, sacravit, et nobilitavit. Adhuc vivit et nunquam moritura dum his Regionibus supersunt grata pectora.("Rachel, a countess really worthy of Henry, who had scarce an equal of her sex either in spirit or in virtue. In domestic, civil and religious affairs she had a genius exceeding that of a man, and such a motherly disposition that scarce a greater then existed in the world. She was a humble and devout daughter of the Church of England and in times of persecution a mother to the distressed (dispossessed) Fathers and in these parts almost their only protectress. This alone was worthy of our tears, that in her the noble name of Bourchier would have been extinct if she had not been endowed with virtues sufficient even to render it immortal and though she was childless yet she was parent to more than a thousand children, whom in a very genteel manner she brought up, gave portions to, consecrated and even ennobled. She still lives and never will die while any spark of gratitude remains in this country" (Based on framed 19th. century handwritten translation at base of monument)
Title: LadyRachelFane 1680 TawstockDevon
Credit: Self-photographed
Author: (Lobsterthermidor (talk) 22:26, 25 April 2014 (UTC))
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No