Barbara (Blakiston) Wren (1606 - 1652)

Born 1606 in Gibside, Durham, England

Ancestors

Wife of Lynley Wren — married 27 Sep 1622 in Durham, England

Descendants

Died Mar 1652 at about age 46 in Auckland St Andrew, Durham, England

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Biography

Barbara Blakiston was born about 1606 at Gibside, Durham, England as the youngest daughter of Sir William Blakiston and Jane (Lambton) Blakiston.^[1][2]

She married Lynley Wren^[1][2] of Binchester on 27 September 1622 in Durham, England.

Lynley and Barbara had nine children:^[2]

1. Charles Wren m Peregrina Fetherstonhaugh
2. Lynley Wren died unmarried
3. William Wren died young
4. Anthony Wren
5. Ralph Wren
6. Isabel Wren m Robert Harrison
7. Barbara Wren m Francis Blackett
8. Gertrude Wren died young
9. Elizabeth Wren

In 1634, Sir William Brereton dined with the Wrens and noted:

Here dined with him this day Mr Linsley Wren of Binchester and his wife, a mighty gallant, a fine dainty gentlewoman, if she knew but how to value and prize the perfections God hath given her.^[3]

In 1646, her husband Lynley was sequestered for delinquency.^[2]

It was recorded that

...the Wren family had very strong Royalist proclivities, and during the Civil wars took part with the King. For this offence...Lindley Wren was attainted, and he compounded for his estates for £300. His wife Barbara, it will be remembered, had an adventure with the soldiers of Cromwell when they brought the unfortunate Monarch, Charles I, through Auckland a prisoner.

Of Barbara Wren's encounter with the Cromwellian soldiers and the King, it was recorded:

There is a tradition, that whilst the King was at Auckland, a lady of the name of Wren, of Binchester, found him in the inn, in a sort of guard-room, surrounded by soldiers, who were smoking tobacco, the smell of which he held in abomination; and she being a great royalist, and an admirer of the King, spiritedly broke every pipe she could reach in her approach to her fallen Sovereign, the King thanking her, and saying she had done more than he durst have done.

Barbara Wren died in March 1652 and was buried at Auckland St Andrew, Durham on 8 Mar 1652.

Research Notes

The birth date is estimated from her marriage date.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Burke, John & Burke, John Bernard (1838) A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Extinct and Dormant Baronetcies of England p65 Burke's Pedigree of Blakiston of Gibside
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Hodgson, William Crawford (1915) North Country Diaries (Second Series) p206 Pedigree of Wren of Binchester
3. ↑ Richley, Matthew (1872) History and Characteristics of Bishop Auckland p24

• Richley, Matthew (1872) History and Characteristics of Bishop Auckland p189