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Women and the Plot
Mary Ward
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Mary Ward, Unknown artist, 1621, English Institute of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, Augsburg. National Portrait Gallery,
LondonMary Ward was born at Mulwith Manor near Ripon
in Yorkshire in 1585. Her father was a bailiff for the Earl
of Northumberland and her family were all Catholics. She was
related to several of those involved in the Plot. Her mother,
Ursula Wright, was the sister of John and Christopher Wright
and sister-in-law of Thomas Percy. Her father was arrested
for a while on suspicion of involvement in the Plot.
Brought up in a highly religious household under the spiritual
guidance of a Jesuit priest, she set her heart on becoming
a nun and in 1606 she crossed over to Flanders to enter into
a religious order. From 1609, prompted by a series of intense
religious experiences, she began to develop more ambitious
plans to set up a new community to give religious instruction
to young girls from England and also to provide similar guidance
within England itself.
Between 1616 and 1628 Ward's 'institute' flourished, opening
new schools across Europe, but her desire to make it formally
part of the Jesuit order was frustrated. Her battle to achieve
her ends against strong opposition resulted in an accusation
of heresy,
a brief period of imprisonment by the Papal inquisition, and
a direct appeal to the Pope, which secured some formal status
for her institute in 1632.
Ward returned to England in 1639 and died in 1645. The institute
she founded eventually became The Institute of the Blessed
Virgin Mary, and still exists.
Anne Vaux
Anne Vaux was born in 1562, the daughter of a Catholic nobleman,
Lord Vaux of Harrowden. She was a cousin of Francis Tresham.
Unmarried, she seems to have devoted her life to supporting
the cause of Catholicism in England and for many years she
helped the Jesuit priest Henry Garnett to carry out his secret
missionary work.
Working often with her widowed sister, Eleanor Brooksby,
she created safe houses for Garnett and other clerics. One
of them was Baddesley Clinton in Warwickshire, now belonging
to the National Trust; another was White Webbs in Enfield
Chase, near London. Both houses were fitted up with priest
holes or hiding places for the priests.
Several of the conspirators met at White Webbs in the summer
and autumn of 1605, and although she did not know about the
Plot, Anne Vaux did have some suspicions. After the discovery
of the Plot she was arrested but soon released, and following
her release tried to protect Garnett, posing as his sister,
a Mrs Perkins. By the beginning of December Garnett was in
hiding at Hindlip House, where he was eventually found on
27 January.
After his arrest, Anne Vaux followed Garnett to London and
tried to pass secret messages to him, which were intercepted
by the authorities. She was herself arrested again in March
and interrogated. Distraught at Garnett's death, she was released
in August and lived first in Leicestershire and then in Derbyshire,
where she ran a Catholic school. She died some time after
1637.
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