Page:Poems of Anne Countess of Winchilsea 1903.djvu/23



INTRODUCTION
xix Chester, and the first dean of Winchester Cathedral. His initials, " W. K.," and the Kingsmill arms, are carved on the oak stalls of the choir. Anne's great grandfather, who was high sheriff under James I. and Elizabeth, was esteemed "the wisest gentleman of his country." Her father, Sir William Kingsmill, married Anne Haselwood, one of the nine children of Sir Anthony Haselwood and Elizabeth Wil- mer, of Maidwell, Northamptonshire. Anne Haselwood's brother, Sir William Haselwood, succeeded his father in 1660. His estate that year was rated at 3,000 per annum. His daughter Elizabeth, "whose excellent character would fill a volume," became in 1685 the third wife of Viscount Hatton of Kirby. Another daughter, Penelope, was the first wife of Sir Henry Seymour, alias Portman, of Orchard- Portman, in Somersetshire. Anne Haselwood's sisters, Catherine and Elizabeth, married, respectively, Sir Thomas Cave and Sir William Langham. It will thus be seen that through both father and mother Anne Kingsmill was related to families of high repute.

Sir William Kingsmill and his wife Anne had three children, William, Bridget, and Anne. Sir William died when Anne, who was born in April, 1661, was but five months old. In his will, after solemnly "bequeathing his soul to his Saviour Jesus Christ through whose merits he hopes to join the Saints and Angels, and his body to the dust whence it came," he shows his con- fidence in his "Ladie and loving wife" by making her his sole executrix during the minority of his son, William, then a child of two or three years, to whom the estates were bequeathed. Provision was likewise made for his daughters, a sum of 2000 being set aside to be invested for Bridget and paid to her with all the interest accruing therefrom on her twenty-first birthday or on her marriage. A sum of 1500 was similarly set apart as Anne's portion. The