User:Qazwsx777/sandbox/Dorothy Calthorpe

Dorothy Calthorpe
Dorothy Calthorpe as depicted on the monument to her in Ampton Church
Born	28 December 1648 Ampton
Died	8 November 1693 Ampton
Notable works	"A Castell in the aire, or the pallace of the man in the moone" and "Discription of the Garden of Edden"
Relatives	James Calthorpe (father), Reynolds Calthorpe (brother), Henry Calthorpe (grandfather) Algernon May (stepfather)

Dorothy Calthorpe (1648-1693) was an author of poetry and philanthropist known for an autograph manuscript volume containing poems, a prose romance, and two devotional prose narratives.

Early life and family

Calthorpe was born in Ampton, Suffolk on 28 December 1648 to James Calthorpe (Roundhead) and Dorothy Reynolds. Her father James was a roundhead serving as High Sheriff of Suffolk, in 1656, during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, by whom he was knighted at Whitehall, 10 December, in the same year. She lived her entire life in the village and remained unmarried.

Writings

Calthorpe authored a volume containing a variety of texts, including a prose romance about her family, three poems, and two prose narratives with spiritual and political themes: "A Castell in the Aire or the Pallace of the Man in the Moon" and "A Discription of the Garden of Edden." Notations within the volume indicate that it was begun in 1672-73 and completed in 1684, which locates its composition within the immediate context of the Exclusion Crisis with evidence from the manuscript pointing to suggest that Calthorpe herself had royalist leanings. The autograph manuscript volume was discovered by scholars when it was sold at a Sotheby's auction in 2006 as part of a sale of property from an estate at Shrubland Park, Coddenham. The manuscript was purchased by the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University funded by the James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Fund, where it now resides.

The volume is comprised of the following parts;

• "Philismena to Philander", 40 lines of verse, in rhymed couplets, beginning "tis not Philander that I disallow".
• "Philander to Philismena", 62 lines of verse, in rhymed couplets, beginning "oh glorious conquest infenetly aboue".
• "In commendations of a country Life it being so innocent", 32 lines of verse, in rhymed couplet beginning "oh how I hate the tumults of a Citty".
• "A Discription of the Garden of Edden", an imaginative prose account.
• "A Short History of the Life and Death of Sr Ceasor Dappefer / or els a pleasent histtory of Jewlious: and Dorinda the truth of it was so Lately represented that some of those worthy persons are still liueing and ownes what: is here repated", aprose narrative, dated at the end 1677, followed by three pages of explanation about the "designe of this Littell Memoise", which was "to giue a true relation of my owne famely" under assumed names.
• "A Castell in the aire or the pallace of the man in the moon", a prose, a religious meditation in the first person, apparently lacking ending on one of two excised leaves.
• "Philismena to Philander" and half of "Philander to Philismena" again, written from the reverse end and heavily deleted with a series of swirling loops.

Death and bequests

The Almshouses in Ampton funded by Dorothy Calthorpe's bequest

Monument to Dorothy Calthorpe in Ampton Church

Benefactors plaque in Ampton Church detailing her legacy

Dorothy died on 8th November 1693 and in her will dated 18 May 1693 left a number of bequests to the local poor. She left £1,000 to the perpetual endowment of almshouses in Ampton for the use of six old widows or maids. and a further £100 to be used to construct the houses. The bequest was insufficient and only four almshouses were constructed. £500 was given to the local town of Bury St Edmunds to apprentice poor boys in handicrafts.

A marble monument is mounted on the south wall of St Peter's Church Ampton depicting her knelling by a bookstand with allegorical carvings including a skull and an hourglass.

To the pious memory of Mis Dorothy Calthorpe 2.d Daughter of Iames Calthorpe later of Ampton Eſqß: by Dame Dorothy his Wife, this Virgin Foundreſs of the Almſhowſe left this life for a better 8th Nov: A.D. 1693 In the 45th year of her age. A Virgin votary is oft in Snares This safely vow'd & made ye Poor her Heirs

— Inscription Calthorpe's memorial

Today the almshouses form a private residence in Ampton known as Park lodge. It is a single storey building of colour-washed brick, with chamfered and rusticated red brick quoins and dressings, and a slightly projecting central bay with triangular pediment and brick dentil cornice. Black glazed pantiles and 2 internal chimney-stacks each with 2 round shafts of ornate moulded brick make up the roof. Four late C19 canted bay windows in earlier openings, with C20 small-paned casements. Central entrance door with 8 raised fielded panels, and subordinate doors in recessed porches. The range appears to have been considerably restored in the mid C19, when the present roof, the chimney-stacks and dentil cornice were added to the older structure. The Latin inscription, now very faint, reads: 'MDCXCIII DOROTHEA CALTHORPE HOSPITIUM HOC FUNDIT VIRGO IN VIRGINIUM SOLAMEN.'

Further reading

• Calthorpe, Dorothy (2022). News from the Midell regions and Calthorpe's chapel. Julie A. Eckerle. New York. ISBN 978-1-64959-069-5. OCLC 1309958824.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Feminist formalism and early modern women's writing : readings, conversations, pedagogies. Michelle M. Dowd, Lara Dodds. Lincoln. 2022. ISBN 978-1-4962-3154-3. OCLC 1309954509.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)

References

https://celm-ms.org.uk/authors/calthorpedorothy.html