Jane (Fitzwilliam) Wren (abt. 1646 - 1680)

Born about 1646 in England

Ancestors

Wife of Christopher Wren FRS — married 24 Feb 1677 (to 1680) in St James, Westminster, London, England [uncertain]

Died 4 Oct 1680 at about age 34 in England

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Biography

Born about 1646 Jane FitzWilliam was daughter of William Baron FitzWilliam and his wife, Jane Perry.

On 24 February 1677 at St James, Westminster, she married widower Christopher Wren ^[1] son of Christopher Wren and his wife, Mary Cox. At the time of the marriage Christopher was busily engaged in the rebuilding of the London churches destroyed in the Great Fire of 1665. She was a mystery to Wren's friends and companions. Robert Hooke, who often saw Wren two or three times every week, had, as he recorded in his diary, never even heard of her, and was not to meet her until six weeks after the marriage. She bore her husband two children, Jane in 1677 and William in 1679. Her son's development was so badly delayed that he was known to his father as "Poor Billy". It is unlikely that Jane ever realised the extent of her son's problems as she died of tuberculosis in September 1680. Note. History of Parliament says she bore a son and two daughters. ^[2]

She was buried alongside Christopher's first wife, Faith, and their son, Gilbert, in the chancel of St Martin-in-the-Fields.

Sources

1. ↑ Marriage record St James, Westminster Feb 24th 1676 (OS) Sir Christopher Wren and Madam Jane FitsWilliams were married by Dr William Holder sub Dean of the Chapel
2. ↑ History of Parliament online: WREN, Sir Christopher (1632-1723), of Scotland Yard, Whitehall

• Gibbs et al, Complete Peerage, 2nd edn, Vol 5, p. 521, footnote (b).

• Wikipedia: Christopher Wren

Acknowledgments

• Fitz William-35 was created by Lanny Wren through the import of lannywren.ged on Jun 2, 2015.

• Thanks to Sheila Smail for starting this profile.