REFERENCES > Women involved with science/technology, including the trades

First Published:  April 2004
Revised (substantive):  5 June 2024

| A–D | E–J | K–Q | R–Z |

List of women involved with early-modern science & technology

THIS IS A PROVISIONAL and incomplete list of names, compiled over the years from references I run across when doing research. Some of these references include proper names for the women described, but many do not. For example, from Adrian Wilson’s The Making of Man-Midwifery regarding the family of George Ballard:

... his mother was a midwife at Campden, Gloucestershire, and (as Thomas Hearne observed in 1730) his “ingenious sister, who is now 26 years of age, is ... designing to be a midwife by the assistance of her mother, who hath followed that employment many years.” George’s sister had wider interests as well, for she was “very curious in coins and physic,” and “reads very much in physic and history, and procures many of the best books that way”; surely it was her example that inspired George to produce 20 years later his celebration of female accomplishments, the Memoirs of several ladies of Great Britain.

(A. Wilson, 32)

Moreover, the emphasis on proper names means that I am unable to account for such anonymous figures as

  the “herb-women” of Newgate Market and Covent Garden;

  or the “oldish woman in a hat” who “hath some water good for the eyes” and is known to have treated Samuel Pepys on occasion (in a diary entry for 30 April 1669, Pepys records that she “did dress me, making my eyes smart most horribly, and did give me a little glass of it, which I will use and hope it will do me good”);

  or the “good old Woman” empiric who made medicines for and tended the burns of coal miners working near the Mendip Hills in Somerset during the 1670s: “When any [miners] are burnt, the usual method they observe in their Cure is thus: They presently betake themselves to a good Fire, and sending for some Cows hot Milk, they first Bath the burnt places with that; when they have done this a while, they make use of an Oyntment proper for burnings, which the Masters of the Works have alwaies in a readiness for such chances, being furnish’d therewith at the cheap rate of twelve pence the pound by a good old Woman living near the Works; the use of this Oyntment is continued, the burnt places being alwaies kept moist with it till the burning heat quite ceases, and the Sores are fit to be heal’d, and then the said Woman furnishes them with some ordinary healing Plaisters for that use.” (John Beaumont, “A Letter of Mr. J. Beaumont Containing His Observations of the Fiery Damps in Mines,” 1679, 7; see Lib. Cat. No. BEAU1679 for a complete transcription);

  or the “skilful Woman” who prescribed “the Powder of Nettle-roots in White Wine” with which “Nathaniel Mitchell of Loo in Cornwall, aged about 50” was treated for colic in 1691, as reported in a letter to the Royal Society written in 1707 by the pioneering English naval surgeon, James Yonge;

  or the “experienced old woman, that had been at many sick people’s bed-sides,” whose “advice” and “physique” (medicines) were sought by Thomas Hobbes (over 91 years of age when he died), preferring her clinical practice to that of “the learnedst but unexperienced physitian” (J. Aubrey, Brief Lives, ed. by Andrew Clark, 2 vols., 1.350);

  or the “Lady of late, I have forgot her name,” described in 1673 by Bathsua Makin as having been “so well skilled in the Mathematicks, that she hath printed divers Tables” (B. Makin, An Essay to Revive the Antient Education of Gentlewomen, in Religion, Manners, Arts & Tongues, 1673, 15);

  or the “little Irish girl, a mathematical prodigy” who was examined at meetings of the Dublin Philosophical Society in early 1685/6 and “bred up” by George Tollet, Professor of Mathematics in Dublin (Tollet was elected F.R.S. in 1678): “Mr. Lidcot of Dublin, a learned gentleman, has a daughter of eleven years of age that understands all arithmetic and algebra, trigonometry and the use of globes, and appears at the Royal Society there. They do not find anything extraordinary in her nature to mathematics, but do impute all to her early education. (From Mr. Molineaux in a letter to Mr. [Thomas] Harley, April 21, 1686.) Doctor Holder’s niece, 6 years old, going on 7, adds, subtracts, multiplies, divides and has some few definitions of geometry.” (J. Aubrey, Idea of Education, ed. by J. E. Stephens, 98–9);

  or the “gentlewoman called Everard, who was a very great chemist” according to John Evelyn, who dined with her in London at the house of Mr. Dubois on 5 July 1650;

  or the “women illuminators” employed by the great Antwerp printer, Christopher Plantin, to color by hand the botanical books which he produced (and botanical illustrations from the stock at the Plantin Press were used by Thomas Johnson for his revised, scholarly edition of Gerard’s Herball, co-printed at London in 1633 and 1636 by a woman, Joyce Norton).

Even when a proper name is known, it is often difficult to learn much about the real historical woman behind it, as is the case with Elizabeth Guard, from Norton in Sussex, who apprenticed with the pro-woman author and publisher, Nathaniel Crouch (c.1640–1725?) at London in 1674. Since Guard disappears from the historical record after that, we have “no evidence that she successfully completed her apprenticeship”; no understanding as to why she did or did not finish her training; and no further information as to why Crouch bound a woman as his apprentice in the first place.

In other cases, a name can predominate over the woman who bears it, as I found with the 16th-century “Lady Owen” whose innovative treatments for breast cancer were highly regarded by contemporaries. She was either the first (Lettice) or second (Mary) wife of the renowned court physician, Dr. George Owen (c.1499–1558), but I still don’t know which “Lady Owen, Doctor Owens wife” developed the recipe for chemotherapy published in Thomas Lupton’s best-selling A Thousand Notable Things of Sundry Sorts (1st edn., 1579).

For women seeking lasting fame, such as the “very ambitious” Margaret Cavendish (who desired nothing more than “to live by remembrance in after-ages”), any such confusion over wifely identities was a major concern. It was to forestall any mistakes over her own identity that Cavendish, then widely known as the countess of Newcastle, published her autobiography in 1656:

... I verily believe some censuring Readers will scornfully say, why hath this Ladie writ her own Life? since none cares to know whose daughter she was, or whose wife she is, or how she was bred, or what fortunes she had, or how she lived, or what humour or disposition she was of? I answer that it is true, that ’tis to no purpose, to the Readers, but it is to the Authoress, because I write it for my own sake, not theirs; neither did I intend this piece for to delight, but to divulge, not to please the fancy, but to tell the truth, lest after-Ages should mistake, in not knowing I was daughter to one Master Lucas of St. Johns neer Colchester in Essex, second Wife to the Lord Marquis of Newcastle, for my Lord having had two Wives, I might easily have been mistaken, especially if I should dye, and my Lord Marry again.

(M. Cavendish, “A True Relation of my Birth, Breeding, and Life,” in Natures Pictures Drawn by Fancies Pencil to the Life, 1st edn., 1656, 390–1)

Confusion over mistaken identities is even more of an issue for historians researching women of the middling and lower classes, as are many of the women listed below. Most early-modern women lacked bureaucratic identities which fixed their names in print, and variable spellings even of recorded names were common for men and women alike. Thus we find the trade printer, Gertrude Dawson (fl. 1649–1660s), using six different imprints for the seven editions she printed of Elizabeth, Countess of Kent’s A Choice Manual of Rare and Select Secrets in Physick and Chyrurgery, and altering the form of her own name almost as often (G. D., G. Dawson, Gurt Dawson, Gartrude Dawson). Even the title-pages for two editions of A Physical Dictionary, both of which Dawson printed for the stationer John Garfield in 1657, use two different names in the imprint: G. D. and G. Dawson.

     

Sorting through the frequent use of initials and variant names and spellings by 17th-century printers requires more than just a casual study, further complicating our ability to trace women’s early contributions to the scientific and technical book trade.

Even with its many omissions, the following list reveals a surprising diversity of interests, activities, and occupations for women involved with early-modern science and technology. The women listed range in social rank from queens to merchant adventurers to illiterate midwives, with participatory activities that run the gamut from accounting, alchemy, astrology, and astronomy to bookbinding, botany, calligraphy, cartography, chemistry and iatrochemistry, educational reform, engineering, engraving, entomology, horology, horticulture, illustration, instrument manufacture (maker/supplier of precision tools used in mathematics, astronomy, navigation, surveying, medicine & surgery), marketing, mathematics, medicine, natural philosophy, navigational science, patron of the arts & sciences, pharmacy, niche publication of scientific works, print selling & print publication, surgery, technical writing, and zoology.

^  Mary Griffith (fl. 1637), horologist and early bourgeois patron of the arts & sciences. Portrait engraving by George Glover (fl. 1634–1652), published as the frontispiece to Haec Homo, wherein the Excellency of the Creation of Woman Is Described (1637), by William Austin (c. 1587–1634).
     Mary Griffith was the dedicatee of Austin’s posthumously-printed Haec Homo, a scribal publication written almost 2 decades earlier, c.1620, possibly in response to the misogynist pamphlet Hic Mulier: or, The Man-Woman (1620). Austin’s protofeminist response was edited for publication in 1637 by “J. A.” (presumed to have been his son, James [b. 1616], by Austin’s first wife, née Anne Grimes, who died in childbirth in 1624). In his epistle dedicatory, J. A. describes Mary Griffith as Austin’s chosen pattern and patron (here punning on the interchangeability of the two terms and concepts during the 17th century) — a Vetruvian woman praiseworthy for “perfections ... fully your own,” resulting in the “truely vertuous” character who has matured from the “naturall purity” with which all women are bestowed at birth. Glover’s “lively Portraiture” captures Mary Griffith at half-length, holding a timepiece, thus celebrating her exceptional mindfulness in the employment of her time. Both business and pleasure were regulated by her watch.
     Austin’s well-received Haec Homo (with further editions in 1638 and 1639), offered readers “Learned proof that women are as good as men ... By Scripture and logic, Austin shows that woman is superlatively fine in her origin and in her form and that man’s condemnation proceeds only from ignorance; he even goes so far as to contend that woman is equal with man: ‘In the sexe, is all the difference; which is but onely in the body. For, she hath the same reasonable soule; and, in that, there is neither hees, nor shees; neither excellencie, nor superiority: she hath the same soule; the same mind; the same understanding; and tends to the same end of eternall salvation that he Doth.’ Woman is like a stately merchant ship which brings to her husband riches and credit. At length, with help from Spenser’s House of Alma [in Edmund Spenser’s epic poem, The Faerie Queene (1590–6)], the author allegorically describes woman’s body and finds it good.” (L. B. Wright, Middle-Class Culture in Elizabethan England, 502–3)

[ Fig. 1 of 4 ]		[ Fig. 2 of 4 ]

[ Fig. 3 of 4 ]		[ Fig. 4 of 4 ]

^  The Vetruvian Woman, as depicted in Fig. 1 (p. 76), Fig. 2 (p. 77), Fig. 3 (p. 78), and Fig. 4 (p. 79) in chapter 5 of William Austin’s Haec Homo, wherein the Excellency of the Creation of Woman Is Described (1637), dedicated to Mary Griffith, here depicted as a paragon of her sex.
     Chapter 5 examines the female “form ... and to what use, it is so built,” contending that the female body is “an epitome” of “the whole world” (Haec Homo, 72 and 76) — a “Microcosmus, or the little earth” (Haec Homo, 89), created in God’s image, and “made in all the Geometricall proportions, that are, or can be imagined: For, as all Numbers and proportions, for measure, (both of inches, spannes, digits, cubits, feet, &c.) are derived from the members, and dimensions of the humane body: so is also the body answerable to all proportions, buildings, and figures, that are.” (Haec Homo, 75–6)
     Austin’s 4 female figures (inspired by Vitruvius’ discussion, in De Architectura, of perfect proportion in architecture and the male body) correlate ideal womanly proportions with geometry:
     •  Fig. 1 of 4 shows that when “the armes be stretched forth-right, from each side, in manner of a Crucifix; the body standing upright; and the feet together,” the body makes “a perfect Square ... Which was the form of the Temple, and of the mysticall Church, in the Revelation” (Haec Homo, 76–7).
     •  Fig. 2 of 4 shows the woman’s arms repositioned such that drawing “a line from each hand, to the feet” turns her body into “a just Triangle: which is a figure of the Trinitie” (Haec Homo, 77–8).
     •  Fig. 3 of 4 lets the woman’s “hands fall somewhat stradling a litttle with the legges; and then, the extreames of the fingers, head, and toes, make a just circle; the navell or bottome of the belly being center, which is a true figure of the Earth” (Haec Homo, 78).
     •  Fig. 4 of 4 elevates “the hands againe, so that the feet (stradling) may imitate a Saint Andrews Crosse; and you may draw from this figure a true form of the twelve houses of the seven Planets in Heaven” (Haec Homo, 78–9).
     Austin then extends his Vitruvian conceit concerning female form and beauty from architecture to typography, arguing that “there is scarce a figure, or character of a letter in the whole Alphabet (which are the grounds and elements of all Arts, and Sciences, whatsoever) but may be aptly figured and expressed by some Station, motion, or action of the Body. All which were too long to particularize: but hee that will make an ingenious triall may soone see the truth of it. And all these forms are expressible in the body of Woman and man, equally.” (William Austin, Hæc Homo, wherein the Excellency of the Creation of Woman Is Described, 1st edn., 1637, 80–1)
     These 4 figures depicting the Vetruvian Woman were likely designed by Austin himself, “who was an amateur artist (his will lists a ‘booke of Christ’s Passion coloured by me’ and a set of ‘toyes in paper drawne by my owne hand’) and also owned an important collection of paintings on classical and religious subjects.” He also designed the “remarkable emblematic monument to the memory of his mother and first wife,” sculpted by the master mason Nicholas Stone (1585x8–1647), “which used agricultural motifs (including harvesters, a wheatsheaf, a winnowing fan, and a corn shovel) to illustrate the text ‘Vos estis agricultura dei.’” This other pro-woman monument was placed in the north transept of the church of St Saviour (in the London borough of Southwark), to which Austin was a generous benefactor. (A. Hunt, ODNB entry for William Austin, n. pag.)

 

  List of Women: A–D

• Mrs. John Adair (fl. 1723)
• Alderson, Katherine (fl. 1658)
• Alkin, Elizabeth (aka Parliament Joan; c.1600–1655?)
• Allde, Elizabeth (aka Alldee and All-de; fl. 1627–1636)
• Allde, Margaret (fl. 1584–1603)
• Allen, Hannah (née Howse; other married name, Chapman; fl. 1632–1664)
• Alsop, Elizabeth (fl. 1647–1664)
• Andrews, Elizabeth (fl. 1663–1680)
• Apsley, Lucy (née St John; 2nd married name, Francke; c.1589–1659)
• wife to Thomas Asbridge
• Astell, Mary (1666–1739)
• Astry, Diana
• the Widow Astwood (fl. 1699)
• Austin, Anne (née Anne Bingham; fl. 1627–1635)
• Avery, Mary (fl. 1682)
• Avery, Susanna (aka Susanne)
• Awdely, Elizabeth (fl. 1575–1582)
• Bacon, Anne (Lady Bacon; née Cooke; c.1528–1610)
• Baldwin, Abigail (née Mulford; bap. 1658, d. 1713)
• mother to George Ballard
• sister to George Ballard
• Bannister, Mary
• Barbauld, Anna (1743–1825)
• Baré, Jeanne (fl. 1776)
• Barker, Jane (1652–1727?)
• Barret, Hanna (fl. 1625–1626)
• the Barrington women, incl. Mary Gerard (fl. 1628–1632)
• Barton, Catherine (m. John Conduitt; fl. 1698–1727)
• Baynard, Ann (1672–1697)
• Beales, Edith (fl. 1572) and female descendants
• Beaufort, Margaret (countess of Richmond and Derby; 1443–1509)
• Beckett, Grace (formerly Grace Compton; fl. 1688)
• Behn, Aphra (1640–1689)
• Bell, Jane (aka Jean; fl. 1649–1659)
• Berners, Juliana, Dame (b. 1388; pub. 1486)
• Bill, Anne (1588–1621)
• Mrs. Birch (fl. 1655)
• Birch, Elizabeth (fl. 1670s)
• Blackborn, Jane
• Blackwell, Elizabeth (née Blachrie; bap. 1707, d. 1758)
• the Widow Blageart (at Paris; fl. in the English book trade, 1633–1639)
• Bland, Elizabeth (b. c.1660, d. in or after 1712?)
• Blencowe, Anne (Lady Blencowe; née Wallis; 1656–1718)
• Mrs. Blowe (fl. 1655)
• Bonhomme, Y. (at Paris; the widow of T. Kerver; fl. in the English book trade, 1524–5)
• the widow of Charles Boscard (at St. Omer; fl. in the English book trade, 1623–1639)
• Bourgeois, Louise (c.1563–1636)
• the Widow Bourne (fl. 1684)
• Bowshy, Katharina (fl. 1660)
• the Widow Hubert vander Boxe (fl. 1712)
• Boyle, Juliana (dowager countess of Burlington; née Noel; 1672–1750)
• Bradstreet, Anne (1612?–1672)
• Brahe, Sofie (c.1556–1643)
• Mrs. Brent (fl. 1655)
• Broad, Alice (fl. 1660–1667)
• Brockman, Lady Anne (fl. 1709)
• Brome, Joanna (aka Johanna Broom; 1st married name, Leach; fl. 1673–1683; d. 1684)
• Broome, Joan (fl. 1591–1600)
• Brown, Elizabeth, Lady (d. 1652)
• Brusey, Mary (fl. 1641)
• Bryan, Margaret (fl. 1815)
• daughter of Thomas or John Buck, Cambridge bookbinders (fl. 1650)
• Mistress Ursula Bucke (fl. 1658–1667)
• Burbage, Elizabeth (fl. 1650s)
• Burby, Elizabeth (aka Burbie; fl. 1607–1609)
• Burges, Elizabeth (fl. 1707–1708)
• Burton, Dorothy (d. 1629)
• Bury, Elizabeth (1644–1720)
• Butter, Joan (aka Johane; 2nd married name, Newbie; fl. 1589–1604)
• Calvert, Elizabeth (fl. 1661–1675; d. 1675?)
• Campbell, Agnes (1637–1716; 1st married name, Anderson; 2nd married name, Telfer)
• Capel, Mary (duchess of Beaufort; fl. 1655)
• wife of Solomon Carr (fl. 1627)
• Carter, Elizabeth (1717–1806)
• Cavendish, Lady Elizabeth (duchess of Albemarle; afterwards duchess of Montagu; 1654/5–1734)
• Cavendish, Margaret (duchess of Newcastle; née Lucas; 1623–1673)
• Cavendish, Lady Rhodia (fl. 1690s)
• Cellier, Elizabeth (fl. 1668–1688)
• Centlivre, Susannah (1667?–1723)
• Elizabeth Chanon of Oystberry (fl. 1655)
• Charlewood, Alice (née Bailey; 2nd married name, Roberts; fl. 1593–?)
• Châtelet, Gabrielle Émilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil du (aka Marquise du Châtelet, and Émilie du Châtelet; 1706–1749)
• Mistress Child
• the Widow Chitwin (fl. 1683)
• the widow of Antonie Christian and Charles Guillery (at Paris; fl. in the English book trade, 1670–1671)
• Christina of Sweden (aka Christine von Schweden, Queen Christina of Sweden; 1626–1689)
• the Grand Duchess Christina
• Chudleigh, Lady Mary (1656–1710)
• Mrs. Church (fl. 1655)
• Clark, Mary (fl. 1678–1704)
• Mrs. Cleere (fl. 1655)
• Clifford, Lady Anne (1590–1676)
• Clinton, Elizabeth (countess of Lincoln; 1574?–1630?)
• Clowes, Jane (fl. 1661–1662)
• the widow of John Cnobbart [Cnobbaert] (at Antwerp; fl. in the English book trade, 1650)
• Cockburn, Catharine (née Trotter; 1674?–1749)
• Coe, Jane (fl. 1644–1646)
• Colden, Jane (1724–1766)
• Colinet, Marie (fl. early decades of 17th century)
• Colman, Adrian (fl. 1596)
• Lady Constable (fl. 1655)
• Conway, Anne (3rd viscountess Conway and Killultagh; née Finch; 1631–1679)
• Conway, Frances (2nd viscountess Conway and Killultagh; née Popham; 1596/7–1671)
• Mrs. Conway (fl. 1655)
• Lady Cook (fl. 1655)
• Coomes, Mary (fl. 1685)
• Corbet, Margaret (née Brent; aka Mary Brent, Margaret Corbett; d. 1656/7)
• Cotes, Ellen (fl. 1653–1670)
• the widow of Nicolas Courant (at Rouen; fl. in the English book trade, 1631–1633)
• Lady Coventry (fl. 1655)
• Crane, Elizabeth (d. in or before 1606)
• Mrs. Cranmer (fl. 1655)
• Creswell, Elizabeth (fl. 1656)
• Lady Cromwell (the Lady Protectress, wife of Oliver Cromwell)
• Crooke, Elizabeth (fl. 1694–6)
• Crooke, Mary (née Tooke; fl. 1652–1687)
• Culpeper, Alice (née Field; 2nd married name, Heydon; b. 1625; fl. 1654–1656)
• Cunitz, Maria (married name, von Löwen; 1610–1664)
• Mrs. Parnell Dall (fl. 1655)
• Daniel, Mary (fl. 1671–1672)
• daughter of the mathematician Edward Davenant, D.D. (aka “Mris Ettrick”; fl. 1660s)
• Davenant, Katherine (2nd daughter of the mathematician Edward Davenant, D.D.; married name Lamplugh; 1633–1671)
• Mrs. Dawson (fl. 1655)
• Dawson, Gertrude (fl. 1649–1660s)
• Dawson, Mary (fl. 1634–1637)
• daughter of Dr. Denton
• Dickinson, Elizabeth (fl. 1696)
• Mrs. Dinne (fl. 1655)
• Dodd, Anne (née Barnes; c.1685–1739)
• Dodington, Penelope
• Doggett, Mary (fl. 1682)
• Mrs. Downing (fl. 1655)
• Drake, Judith (fl. 1696–1723)
• Dunton, Elizabeth (née Annesley; aka “Dear Iris”; m. John Dunton in 1682; d. 1697)
• Duplake, Mercy (fl. 1622)

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  Women’s Names: E–J

• Mrs. Edwards (fl. 1648–1649)
• Mrs. Edwards (fl. 1736)
• Edwards, Mary (fl. 1697–1707)
• Egerton, Sarah Fyge (1699/72–1722)
• Eimmart, Maria Clara (married name, Müller; 1676–1707)
• the Widow Elford (fl. 1684)
• Elizabeth, Princess Palatine (aka Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia; 1618–1680)
• Elizabeth I (1533–1603; r. 1558–1603), styled “Queen of England, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc.” with her proclamation of accession in 1558
• Elstob, Elizabeth (1683–1756)
• Mrs. Leonhard Euler (18th century)
• Evans, Dorothy (fl. 1612–1616)
• Evelyn, Mary (1635–1708/9)
• Evelyn, Mary (1665–1685)
• “a gentlewoman called Everard” (fl. 1650)
• Evre, Margaret (fl. 1640)
• the Widow Fawkner (fl. 1708)
• Featley, Joyce (née Kerwyn; married 1st to Richard Thompson; married 2nd to Isaac Halloway; married 3rd to Daniel Featley; d. 1637)
• Fell, Sarah (1642–1714)
• “Mrs. Feltham in Westminster-Hall” (fl. 1691)
• Ferrar, Virginia (1626–1688)
• Fettiplace, Elinor (Lady Fettiplace; née Poole; 2nd married name, Rogers; b. c.1570, d. in or after 1647)
• Field, Jacqueline (aka Jakin; either née Vautrollier or 1st married name, Vautrollier; fl. 1587–1611?)
• Fiennes, Celia (1662–1741)
• Finch, Anne (countess of Winchilsea; 1661–1720)
• Mrs. Firmingham (fl. 1655)
• Fisher, Mary (c.1623–1698)
• Fitton, Elizabeth (fl. 1817)
• Fitton, Sarah (fl. 1817)
• Flamsteed, Margaret (née Cooke; c.1670–1730)
• Flesher, Elizabeth (aka Fletcher; fl. 1671–1688)
• the Widow Fletcher (fl. 1732)
• the Widow Foote (fl. 1651)
• Forrester, Susanna (fl. 1683–1685)
• Mrs. Forster (fl. 1655)
• Lady Fortescue (fl. 1655)
• Francis, countess of Exeter (fl. 1630)
• Mrs. Francis (fl. 1647)
• Freke, Elizabeth (1642–1714)
• Suor Maria Celeste Galilei (1600?–1634)
• Gater, Sarah (née Rogers; bap. 1605, d. 1656)
• Gethin, Lady Grace Norton (1676–1697)
• the Gifford daughters (fl. 1705)
• Godbid, Anne (fl. 1678–1683)
• Gosling, Elizabeth (fl. 1647)
• Gournay, Marie le Jars de (1565–1645)
• Green, Katherine (fl. 1626)
• Griffith, Mary (fl. 1637)
• Goodwife Greene (fl. 1647)
• Grey, Elizabeth Talbot (countess of Kent; 1581–1651)
• Grierson, Constantia (1706?–1733)
• Griffin, Anna (aka Anne; fl. 1634–1637)
• Griffin, Sarah (aka Griffing; fl. 1653–1677)
• Grymeston, Elizabeth
• Guard, Elizabeth (fl. 1674)
• Mrs. Hagger (fl. 1655)
• Halkett, Lady Anne Murray (1623–1699)
• Mrs. Harlakenden (fl. 1640s)
• Harley, Lady Brilliana (1598?/1600?–1643)
• the Widow Harrington (fl. 1550)
• Harris, Elizabeth (fl. 1699–1705)
• Harris, Sarah (fl. 1686–1690)
• Harrison, Martha (fl. 1649–1657)
• Harrison, Sarah (fl. 1733–1777)
• Haselwood, Elizabeth (fl. 1685)
• Hastings, Elizabeth (countess of Huntingdon; née Stanley; bap. 1587, d. 1633)
• the Widow Hauksbee (fl. 1713)
• Hayes, Jane (fl. 1696–1697)
• Helme, Anne (aka the Widow Helme; fl. 1617–1621)
• Henrietta Maria (1609–1669)
• Henryson, Joanna (fl. after 1691)
• Henshaw, Anne (née Bonham; d. after 1650)
• the widow of John Herforde (fl. 1549–1550)
• Hevelius, Elisabetha (née Korpmann; fl. 1669–1690)
• Lady Heydon (fl. 1655)
• Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179)
• Hoby, Lady Margaret (1571–1633)
• Hodgkinson, Elizabeth (fl. 1675)
• Holden, Mary (fl. 1688–9)
• Holder, Susan (1626/7–1688)
• Holland, Alathea (Lady Holland; née Panton; widow of William Sandys, 4th Baron Sandys; wife of Sir John Holland, 1st baronet; d. 1679)
• Holland, Hester (fl. 1621–1623)
• Hollis, Madam (fl. 1704)
• Holt, Elizabeth (fl. 1690–1691)
• Lady Honeywood (fl. 1645–1648)
• Hooker, Martha (fl. 1686–1689)
• Howard, Aletheia Talbot (2nd countess of Arundel; 1590–1654)
• Howard, Lady Ann (1st countess of Arundel; 1595–1630)
• Howard, Annabella (4th wife of Sir Robert Howard; fl. 1690s)
• Howard, Mary (Lady Stafford; née Stafford; 1620/21–1694)
• the Widow Howell (fl. 1698)
• Hurlock, Elizabeth (aka the Widow Hurlock; fl. 1673–7)
• Hutchinson, Lucy (née Apsley; 1620–1681)
• Mrs. Hutton (fl. 1785)
• Huygens, Susanna (d. 1637)
• Inglis, Esther (aka Hester Inglis, Esther Anglois, Esther Langlois Françoise; married name, Kello; 1570/71–1624)
• Mrs. Thomas Iles (wife of Dr. Thomas Iles; fl. 1636–1638)
• Jacson, Maria (fl. 1797)
• Jaggard, Elizabeth (aka Jagger; fl. 1624)
• James, Eleanor (fl. 1702)
• Jefferies, Ann (fl. 1626–1696)
• Jinner, Sarah (fl. 1658–1664)
• Johns, Mary (fl. 1733)
• Jones, Katherine (aka Lady Ranelagh; b. 1616?, fl. 1640s–1660s)
• Mrs. Jones (fl. 1655)
• Josceline, Elizabeth (aka Joceline; 1592–1622)
• wife to Ralph Josselin
• daughter to Ralph Josselin
• Juana Inés de la Cruz, Sor (aka Juana Inés de Asbaje y Ramirez de Santillana; 1651–1695)
• Jugge, Joan (fl. 1575–1588)

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  List of Women: K–Q

• the Widow Kellam (at Douai; aka “the widdow of Laurence Kellam, at the signe of the holie Lambe”; fl. in the English book trade, 1613 and 1616)
• Mrs. Kent (fl. 1655)
• Kepler, Katherine
• Lady Killegrew (fl. 1655)
• Kirby, Anne (fl. 1655)
• Kirkall, Elizabeth (fl. 1707)
• Kuffler, Catherina (née Drebbel; m. Johannes Sibertus Kuffler, aka Kiefler/Kuffeler/Keffler, in 1623 or 1627; fl. 1622–1694)
• Kunitzin [aka Cunitia], Maria (fl. 1650)
• Lawson, Dorothy (d. 1632)
• the Widow Lea (fl. 1700–1703)
• Lead, Jane (1623–1704)
• Leake, Ann (fl. 1682)
• Leake, Elizabeth (d. 1721)
• Lee, Eleanor Wortley (countess of Sussex, later countess of Warwick; d. 1667)
• the Widow Leers (at Rotterdam; aka “the widdow of Arnold Leers”; fl. in the English book trade, 1675)
• Lennox, Charlotte (fl. 1760–1761)
• L’Estrange, Alice (Lady L’Estrange; née Stubbe; 1585–1656)
• Mrs. Lindsey (fl. 1655)
• wife to Cuthbert Line (fl. 1597)
• Lister, Anna (aka Anne and Nancy; 1671–1695x1704)
• Lister, Susanna (married name, Knowler; bap. 1670, d. 1738)
• Lowe, Elizabeth (fl. 1620–1630)
• Lady Alice Lucy
• M. H.
• Mrs. Mabel
• the widow of Sebastian Mabre-Cramoisy (at Paris; fl. in the English book trade, 1687, 1692)
• Maitland, Elizabeth (countess of Dysart and duchess of Lauderdale; née Murray; 1st married name, Tollemache; bap. 1626–1698)
• Makin, Bathsua (née Reginald, aka Reginolles; b. 1600, d. in or after 1675)
• Mallet, Elizabeth (fl. 1684)
• Malthus, S. (fl. 1704–1705)
• Mance, Jeanne (c.1607–1673)
• Mapp, Sarah (née Wallin; bap. 1706, d. 1737)
• Marcet, Jane (1769–1858)
• Dame Marian
• Martin, Dorcas (aka Dorothy, and Lady Martin; née Eccleston; 1536/7–1599)
• Masham, Lady Damaris Cudworth (1659–1708)
• Mrs. Mason (fl. 1626)
• Mathews, Anne (aka Mathew, Matthew; fl. 1663)
• Matthews, Mary (fl. 1722)
• Maxwell, Anne (fl. 1660s–1670s)
• Mrs. Maydenhead (fl. 1655)
• Lady Maynard (d. 1684)
• Meurdrac, Marie (fl. 1666)
• Merian, Dorothea Maria Henrietta (aka D.M.H. Graf; married name, Gsell; b. 1678)
• Merian, Johanna Helena (b. 1668)
• Merian, Maria Sibylla (1647–1717)
• Meurdrac, Marie (fl. 1666)
• the Widow Middleton (fl. 1587–1588)
• Mildmay, Lady Grace (1522–1620)
• Mrs. Miller (fl. 1655)
• Mrs. Miller (fl. 1693)
• Mrs. Minne (fl. 1655)
• More, Anne (fl. 1636)
• More, Mary (c.1654–c.1713)
• Moseley, Anne (fl. 1661–1671, d. 1673)
• Mrs. Napper (fl. 1655)
• Mrs. Nash (fl. 1655)
• Lady Nevill
• Newcombe, Dorothy (née Young; 2nd married name, Hutchinson; 1660/61–1718)
• Newman, Dorothy (fl. 1684–1685)
• Newman, E. (fl. 1594)
• Mrs. Newse (fl. 1655)
• Mrs. Nichols (fl. 1655)
• Norton, Joyce (aka “Iocosam Norton” and “Jacosae Norton” and “Jocosae Norton”; fl. 1630s, d. 1643)
• Nutt, Elizabeth (aka Carr; b. in or before 1666, d. 1746)
• the Widow Oliver (fl. 1704–1706)
• Oliver, Mary (fl. 1609)
• Olyve, Mary
• “One of that sex” (fl. 1678)
• Orwin, Joan (aka the Widow Orwin; fl. 1593–1602)
• Overton, Mary (fl. 1646–1647)
• Owen, Lettice (1st wife of Dr. George Owen; fl. 1520s–1530s?)
• Oxenbridge, Jane (née Butler; c.1621–1658)
• Oxinden, Lady Margaret
• the Widow Page (fl. 1674)
• Lady Paget (fl. 1655)
• Papillon, Jane
• mother of Paracelsus
• Partridge, Dorothy (fl. 1694)
• Paske, Sarah (fl. 1698)
• Penn, Gulielma Maria (née Springett; 1st wife of William Penn; d. 1694)
• Penn, Hannah Callowhill (2nd wife of William Penn; 1671–1726)
• the Widow Penn (fl. 1725–1727)
• Penniston, Elizabeth (fl. 1690s)
• Perrot, Catherine (fl. 1682)
• Philipse, Margaret Hardenbrook (?–1691?)
• Pile, Anne (fl. 1653)
• the Widow Pippin (fl. 1681)
• Playford, Eleanor (married name, Walker; fl. 1680s)
• Pope, Margaret (fl. 1681)
• Popham, Letitia (née Kerr; fl. 1644–1653)
• Potter, Prudence (d. 1689, aged 77)
• the Widow Pratt (fl. 1719)
• Purcell, Frances (d. 1706)
• Purslow, Elizabeth (fl. 1633–1650)
• Mrs. Purvey (fl. 1655)
• Pyberg, Elizabeth (fl. 1699)

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  List of Women: R–Z

• Ratcliffe, Jane (née Brerewood; d. 1638)
• Raworth, Ruth (fl. 1645–1650)
• Ray, Catharine (b. 1687)
• Ray, Jane (b. 1689)
• Ray, Margaret (b. 1684)
• Ray, Mary (b. 1684, d. 1698)
• Redman, Elisabeth (née Pickering; 2nd married name, Cholmeley; c.1510–1562)
• Redmayne, Elizabeth (fl. 1683–1699)
• Reynes, Lucy (d. 1549)
• Rich, Mary (aka Lady Warwick; 1625–1678)
• sister of Elizabeth Rowe
• Ruremund, Catharine van (at Antwerp; aka Endhoven, Ruremond and Ruremunde; fl. in the English book trade, 1532–1544)
• Russell, Lucy (countess of Bedford; née Harington; bap. 1581, d. 1627)
• Sadlier, Mary (aka Lady Sadleir; née Lorymer; 1st married name, Croone, or Croon, Croune, Crone, Crun; d. 1706)
• Lady Savil (fl. 1655)
• Sawbridge, Hannah (fl. 1681–1686)
• the Widow Schipper (at Amsterdam; aka “the widow of John Jacobsen Schipper”; fl. in the English book trade, 1678)
• Van Schurman, Anna Maria (1607–1678)
• the Widow Scott (fl. 1671)
• Mrs. Scudamore (fl. 1655)
• Sedley, Lady Catherine (fl. 1686)
• Seile, Anne (b. 1609?, d. 1678; fl. 1662–1677)
• Seller, Elizabeth (fl. 1698, d. 1711)
• Senex, Mary (née Wilcox; fl. 1741–1755)
• Sharp, Jane (fl. 1671)
• Shears, Margaret (fl. 1664–1671)
• Shepard, Ann (fl. 1676)
• Shorley, Johane (fl. 1653)
• Sidney, Mary (countess of Pembroke; 1561–1621)
• Simmons, Mary (d. 1686/7)
• Lady Skreene (fl. 1655)
• Smith, Elizabeth (fl. 1691)
• Smith, Mary (fl. 1730)
• the Widow Snowden (fl. 1705)
• Somerville, Mary Fairfax (1780–1872)
• Sowle, Elizabeth (married name, Bradford; fl. 1685)
• Sowle, Jane (c.1631–1711)
• Sowle, Jane (1st married name, Hinde; 2nd married name, Bradford; b. 1655?)
• Sowle, Tace (married name, Raylton; b. 1666; fl. 1691–1735)
• Speght, Rachel (married name Procter; b. 1597?, d. in or before 1661?)
• the Widow Sperry (fl. 1695)
• Squire, Jane (fl. 1731–43)
• Mrs. Stafford (fl. 1647)
• Mrs. Elizabeth Standish (fl. 1655)
• Stanley, Charlotte (Lady Strange, later countess of Derby; née de La Trémoille; 1599–1664)
• Stephens, Joanna (fl. 1738–1740; d. 1774)
• Stephenson, Rose
• Stone, Sarah (fl. 1702–1737)
• Streater, Susan (d. in or after 1677)
• Stuart, Frances (duchess of Lennox and Richmond; née Howard; 1578–1639)
• the Widow Swart [Swaert] (at Amsterdam; m. to Steven [Stephen] Swart [Swaert]; aka the “Bookseller in the Beurs Stege,” with her shop located “at the Bible and Crown in the Beurse-Street”; fl. in the English book trade, 1688, 1689, 1691, 1698)
• Thompson, Mary (née Ratcliffe; 1st married name, Daniel; d. 1700)
• Thornton, Alice (née Wandesford; 1626–1707)
• the Widow Thurston (fl. 1640)
• Tillinghast, Mary (fl. 1678)
• Tillotson, Elizabeth (née French; d. 1702)
• Lady Tipping (fl. 1667)
• Tollet, Elizabeth (b. 1694)
• Toy, Elizabeth (fl. 1556–1560; d. 1565)
• Trimmer, Sarah (fl. 1780)
• Trye, Mary (fl. 1662–1675)
• Nurse Tucker
• Turberville, Mary (fl. 1696)
• Underhill, Jane (fl. 1662–1671)
• Vaughan, Catherine (née Wise; m. Henry Vaughan; d. in or before 1655?)
• Vaughan, Rebecca (m. Thomas Vaughan in 1651; d. 1658)
• Mrs. Vandenhurk (fl. 1728)
• Vere, Anne de (née Cecil; countess of Oxford; 1556–1588)
• the Verney family’s “Aunt Isham” (d. 1667)
• Verney, Dame Margaret (d. 1641)
• the Widow Veseler (at Amsterdam; aka “the widowe of George Veseler at the signe of the Hope”; fl. in the English book trade, 1626)
• Villiers, Elizabeth (née Danvers; aka viscountess Purbeck; bap. 1629, d. 1709)
• Villiers, Mary (suo jure countess of Buckingham; née Beaumont; c.1570–1632)
• Wakefield, Priscilla (fl. 1790s)
• Waldegrave, Mary (fl. 1588–1604)
• Walker, Elizabeth (1623–1690)
• Waltham, Margaret
• Ward, Mary
• Warren, Alice (fl. 1662–1663)
• Warwicke, Isabell (fl. 1572)
• the Widow Watson (fl. 1723–1724)
• Watts, Elizabeth (fl. 1765)
• Webster, Elizabeth (fl. 1689)
• Weston, Elizabeth Jane (aka Elisabetha Joanna Westonia, Elizabetha Johanna Westonia; bap. 1581?, d. 1612)
• White, Grace (fl. 1714–1721)
• White, Margaret (fl. 1679–1683)
• Whitlock, Elizabeth (aka Whitelock; fl. 1696–1698)
• Mrs. Wilkinson
• Wilkinson, Elizabeth (fl. 1693–1696)
• Mrs. Williams (fl. 1657)
• Williams, Anna (fl. 1766)
• Williams, Hannah (fl. 1701–1713)
• Mistress Williamson (fl. 1651–1655)
• Willughby, Emma (née Barnard; 2nd married name, Child; 1644–1725)
• Mrs. Wilson (fl. 1655)
• Winckelmann, Maria (married name, Kirch; 1670–1720)
• Mrs. Withers (fl. 1660)
• Wolfe, Alice (fl. 1601–1618)
• Wolfe, Joan (fl. 1574–1580?; d. 1594?)
• Wolley, Hannah (aka Woolley and Chaloner; b. c.1621, d. in or after 1674)
• Mistress Wooton (fl. 1616)
• Goodwife Worsted of Calthorp (fl. 1655)
• the Widow van Wouw (at Amsterdam [The Hague]; aka “the widdow and heires of Hillebrandt Jacobsz van Wouw”; fl. in the English book trade, 1631, 1652)
• Wray [aka Ray], Elizabeth (c.1600–1679)
• Wright, Alice (fl. 1615)
• Wright, Mary (fl. 1660–1663)
• Wyndham, Elizabeth (née Bacon; 2nd married name, Mansell; d. by 1617)
• the widow of F. Wyon (at Douai; fl. in the English book trade, 1638)
• the widow of Marke Wyon (at Douai; fl. in the English book trade, 1632–1657)
• Yetsweirt, Jane (fl. 1595–1597)

^  Tail-piece from William Derham’s edn. of Philosophical Experiments and Observations of the Late Eminent Dr. Robert Hooke (1726). Derham dedicated this 2nd posthumously-published volume of Hooke’s miscellaneous papers and unpublished manuscripts to a woman, Juliana, dowager countess of Burlington (1672–1750), “for her Personal Virtues and Merits, as for her singular Favours to me.”
   Juliana passed on her love of the arts, especially music and Italian opera, to her son, Richard Boyle (1694–1753), third earl of Burlington and fourth earl of Cork, aka the “architect earl” for his significant contribution to British architecture.
   Like the dowager countess, Richard was a celebrated patron of the arts. His extensive library included “virtually all published editions of architectural treatises and texts, beginning with a mid-fifteenth-century incunabulum on vellum of Vitruvius’s Ten Books of Architecture,” and his art collection included “the single largest corpus of Palladio’s architectural drawings, including his reconstructions of the Roman baths and other Roman monuments.” (P. D. Kingsbury, n. pag.)

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