Henry Fanshawe 1569-1616

Sir Henry FANSHAWE 1569-1616

Biographical Note

Son of Thomas Fanshawe, Queen's Remembrancer in the Exchequer. BA Peterhouse, Cambridge 1584; admitted to the Inner Temple 1587. MP for Westbury 1589 and 1593, and for Boroughbridge 1597. He inherited his father's post as Remembrancer in 1601, with houses in Warwick Lane, London and at Ware Park, Hertfordshire, and a substantial income. He was one of the original subscribers to the Virginia Company, and on its council in 1609. He was a virtuoso and a collector, in the circle of Henry Prince of Wales, and friendly with a number of leading antiquaries. His landscaped garden at Ware Park, with a trout stream, was praised by Sir Henry Wotton as "surely without parallel".

Books

We do not know the size or contents of Fanshawe's library but it is likely to have been sizeable and multilingual. In his lengthy will, which has been noted for its orthodoxy in the context of the Anglican Calvinism of Fanshawe's time, he directed that all his books, "written and unwritten", should be kept in trust to be received by his eldest son Thomas (1596-1665) on reaching the age of 21, along with his pictures, prints, drawings, medals, armour, engraved stones and musical instruments.

The fate of this library after Fanshawe's time is not known but his descendants suffered considerably financially during the Civil War and by the time of the Restoration Thomas, who was created Viscount of Dromore in 1661, was in much reduced circumstances. His son the 2nd Viscount (also Thomas, 1632-1674) had to sell his wife's estates to pay debts, and other late 17th century Fanshawes are summarised by ODNB as "members of the dissolute Stuart court ... [without] the resources to support this lifestyle". It is not known whether any earlier generation Fanshawe books were included in the dispersal of the 4th Viscount's library in 1710 (see Charles Fanshawe, 1643-1710).

Sir Henry's daughter-in-law Anne Fanshawe (1625-1680), who married his fifth son Richard (1608-1666) in 1644, features in the armorials database as two similar armorial stamps are recorded on a number of surviving books, mostly copies of printed books translated by Richard which were presumably given as presentation copies. Anne is noted primarily as a diarist, as her record of her extensive European travels on diplomatic duties with her husband (now BL Add MS 41161) is a valuable historical source.

Characteristic Markings

None of Fanshawe's books have been identified.

Sources

• Fanshawe, Anne. British Armorial Bindings.
• Jack, Sybil M. "Fanshawe, Sir Henry (1569–1616), exchequer official." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• Loftis, J. (ed), The memoirs of Anne, Lady Halkett and Ann, Lady Fanshawe, Oxford, 1979.