Keywords: LadyRachelFane 1680 TawstockDevon.JPG Monument in St Peter's Church Tawstock North Devon of Rachael Fane 1612/13-1680 fifth daughter of Francis Fane 1st Earl of Westmorland and wife of Henry Bourchier 5th Earl of Bath 1593 �1654 of Tawstock Court Given by the Diocese of Bath and Wells a white marble life-size standing female figure by Balthasar Burman a replica of the statue made in 1671/2 by his father Thomas Burman of Mary Talbot Countess of Shrewsbury 1556 �1632 situated in a niche in the Shrewsbury Tower of Second Court the building of which she financed in St John's College Oxford The Latin inscription is as follows <blockquote> Rachel Comitissa Henrico digna vix altera e sexu vel animo vel virtute aequipollens Rebus domesticis civilibus sacris ingenio plusquam virili at materno quo suo tempore vix maius dabatur in terris Ecclesiae Anglicanae Filia humilis et devota et iniquis temporibus eiectorum Patrum mater et hie pene unica fautrix Unicum Lugendum quod in se perjisset nobile Bourchieri nomen ni sat illa habuit virtutum vel illud immortale reddere Et liset improlis plus mille liberorum Parens quos liberalissime educavit dotavit sacravit et nobilitavit Adhuc vivit et nunquam moritura dum his Regionibus supersunt grata pectora Rachel a countess really worthy of Henry who had scarce an equal of her sex either in spirit or in virtue In domestic civil and religious affairs she had a genius exceeding that of a man and such a motherly disposition that scarce a greater then existed in the world She was a humble and devout daughter of the Church of England and in times of persecution a mother to the distressed dispossessed Fathers and in these parts almost their only protectress This alone was worthy of our tears that in her the noble name of Bourchier would have been extinct if she had not been endowed with virtues sufficient even to render it immortal and though she was childless yet she was parent to more than a thousand children whom in a very genteel manner she brought up gave portions to consecrated and even ennobled She still lives and never will die while any spark of gratitude remains in this country Based on framed 19th century handwritten translation at base of monument </blockquote> own photo 2014 Lobsterthermidor <span class signature-talk >talk</span> 22 26 25 April 2014 UTC St Peter's Church Tawstock interior Earls of Westmorland Fane family Earls of Bath |