Lady Rachel Russell

19 September 1637 - 29 September 1723

The reputation of LRR 's letters sprang at first from her husband's political fame, but she was a letter-writer of high quality in her own right. Surviving letters probably represent only a fraction of those she wrote. Like many intelligent women of her time and rank, she used writing not only to communicate with relations and friends, but also privately, to shape her religious practice and her sense of her own life. She left diaries, essays, a catechism, and Instructions for Children.

Milestones

Shortly before 19 September 1637

Rachel Wriothesley (later LRR ) was born.

Schwoerer, Lois. Lady Rachel Russell: "One of the Best of Women". Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988.

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29 September 1723

LRR died in her eighties, at five in the morning, at Southampton House, Bloomsbury Square, London, probably of a stroke.

Schwoerer, Lois. Lady Rachel Russell: "One of the Best of Women". Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988.

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Matthew, Henry Colin Gray, Brian Harrison, and Lawrence Goldman, editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

Biography

Shortly before 19 September 1637

Rachel Wriothesley (later LRR ) was born.

Schwoerer, Lois. Lady Rachel Russell: "One of the Best of Women". Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988.

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She was baptised on that day at Titchfield near Southampton, Hampshire. She was the third child and second daughter of her parents; one of her brothers had already died, and another brother was born after her.

Schwoerer, Lois. Lady Rachel Russell: "One of the Best of Women". Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988.

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