Lady Hester Pulter
Encyclopedia
Lady Hester Pulter was a seventeenth-century writer, whose manuscript was rediscovered in 1996 in the Brotherton Library
, University of Leeds
.
, who became the first earl of Marlborough in 1626. Pulter's mother was Ley's first wife, Mary (née Pettie or Petty). Prior to 1623 and most probably in either 1618 or 1619, Hester married Arthur Pulter of Broadfield in Hertfordshire. The Pulters' had fifteen children (seven sons and eight daughters), only two of whom outlived their mother. During the English Civil Wars, the Pulters apparently withdrew from public life. Hester Pulter died in 1678 but Arthur went on to live a further eleven years. Only one grandchild, James Forester (1660–1696), survived him and he went on to become the sole heir to the family estate.
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Brotherton Library
The Brotherton Library is a 1936 Grade II listed Beaux-Arts building with some art deco fittings, located on the main campus of the University of Leeds...
, University of Leeds
University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
.
Life
Lady Hester Pulter was born in Dublin in 1605. She was the daughter of James LeyJames Ley, 1st Earl of Marlborough
James Ley, 1st Earl of Marlborough was Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench in Ireland and then in England; he was an English Member of Parliament and was Lord High Treasurer from 1624 to 1628. On 31 December 1624, James I created him Baron Ley, of Ley in the County of Devon, and on 5 February...
, who became the first earl of Marlborough in 1626. Pulter's mother was Ley's first wife, Mary (née Pettie or Petty). Prior to 1623 and most probably in either 1618 or 1619, Hester married Arthur Pulter of Broadfield in Hertfordshire. The Pulters' had fifteen children (seven sons and eight daughters), only two of whom outlived their mother. During the English Civil Wars, the Pulters apparently withdrew from public life. Hester Pulter died in 1678 but Arthur went on to live a further eleven years. Only one grandchild, James Forester (1660–1696), survived him and he went on to become the sole heir to the family estate.
Literary works
The Leeds manuscript includes approximately 120 poems, including a series of occasional and devotional poems entitled ‘Poems Wrighten By the Right Honerable H.P’ and a series of 'Emblemes', together with a two-part prose romance, entitled 'The Unfortunate Florinda'. The dates in the manuscript suggest that Pulter wrote the main body of her surviving works between 1645 and 1665. The poetry is written in a variety of genres, covering personal, familial themes as well as public events, the latter being marked by her strong royalism during the English Civil WarEnglish Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
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