Gulielma Springett Penn

Gulielma Maria Posthuma Penn ( Springett; February 1644 – 23 February 1694) was the first wife of William Penn, the notable Quaker writer, religious thinker and founder of Pennsylvania. Early life Gulielma was the daughter of Sir William Springett and Mary Penington (née Proude). William was born c. 1620 and studied at Catherine Hall, Cambridge, and the Inns of Court. He was knighted by King Charles I in 1642, but died on 3 February 1644 from an infection contracted just after the successful siege of Arundel. At the time, his widow was pregnant with Gulielma, who was born a few days later (but no later than 23 February). Her first name was a Latinized version of her parents' first names, and her middle name, 'Posthuma', indicated that she was born after her father's death (and although it appeared on her father's gravestone, she did not use this name in her adult life). Her father's widow, Lady Mary, lived in London with Gulielma and Madam Springett, her mother-in-law. Lady Mary had been drawn to Protestantism during her earlier life, and had therefore refused to have Maria baptized. At some point after Sir William's death, Lady Mary met Isaac Penington, a fellow Protestant who had also studied at St Catherine Hall, Cambridge. On 13 May 1654, when Gulielma was ten, they married. Isaac's father was a wealthy Puritan fishmonger who had become Sheriff of London, Member of Parliament for the City of London and then Lord Mayor of London. He gave them a property as a wedding present, The Grange in Chalfont St Peter. However, initially they lived near Reading in Datchet, and later Caversham. They were impressed by a chance encounter with a Quaker, Thomas Curtis, both became convinced Quakers, and by 1656 Isaac had attended a Quaker meeting in Reading and soon became a pillar of the Quaker community.