Anne Halkett

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AH wrote voluminously: a lost diary, a book of advice for boys, and various religious genres such as meditations or essays, often with political implications. She is best known as a down-to-earth or even worldly autobiographer or memoirist.
Colour photograph of a mannequin representing Anne Halkett, sitting at a desk writing, dressed in black with white cap, collar, and cuffs. The picture was taken at the heritage centre (since 2015 struggling for financial support) in Abbot House, Dunfermline, the oldest building in the town where Halkett spent her last three decades.

Milestones

4 January 1623

Anne Murray, later AH , was born in London; she had an elder sister and several brothers.
Halkett, Anne, and Ann, Lady Fanshawe. “Note on the Text; A Chronology of Anne, Lady Halkett”. The Memoirs of Anne, Lady Halkett and Ann, Lady Fanshawe, edited by John Loftis, Clarendon Press, pp. 3-7.
5 and n
Halkett, Anne et al. “The Memoirs of Anne, Lady Halkett”. The Memoirs of Anne, Lady Halkett, and Ann, Lady Fanshawe, edited by John Loftis and John Loftis, Clarendon Press, pp. 9-87.
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16 January 1678

This date, written in the margin of AH 's manuscript autobiography (and here translated out of Old Style), indicates the day when she began to write it.
Her editor John Loftis makes no mention of this date.
Walker, Kim. “’Divine Chymistry’ and Dramatic Character: The Lives of Lady Anne Halkett”. Women Writing 1550-1750, edited by Jo Wallwork and Paul Salzman, English Program, School of Communication, Arts and Critical Enquiry, La Trobe University, pp. 133-49.
133 and n2

22 April 1699

AH died at Dunfermline, aged seventy-six.
Halkett, Anne, and Ann, Lady Fanshawe. “Note on the Text; A Chronology of Anne, Lady Halkett”. The Memoirs of Anne, Lady Halkett and Ann, Lady Fanshawe, edited by John Loftis, Clarendon Press, pp. 3-7.
7
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

1875

AH 's autobiography (often called Memoirs) was published by the Camden Society , edited by John Gough Nichols and entitled The Autobiography of Anne, Lady Halkett.
Walker, Kim. “’Divine Chymistry’ and Dramatic Character: The Lives of Lady Anne Halkett”. Women Writing 1550-1750, edited by Jo Wallwork and Paul Salzman, English Program, School of Communication, Arts and Critical Enquiry, La Trobe University, pp. 133-49.
133 and n2

Biography

According to Suzanne Trill , the name Halkett should be pronounced Hackett.
Trill, Suzanne. “Critical Categories: Toward an Archeology of Anne, Lady Halkett’s Archive”. The Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting.

Birth and Family

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