"An Abstract from the Life of Mary Pennington, formerly Springett"

Mary Penington (nee Proude) (1623-1682) was born in 1623, the only daughter of Anne Fagge and Sir John Proude, an army officer from Kent in the service of the States of Holland. In 1627, she was orphaned and came under the guardianship of Sir Edward Partridge, who was a bachelor. He arranged for her to live with guardians. When she was about nine years old, Penington came to live with Edward Partridge’s widowed sister, Lady Katherine Springett, who had three children of her own. Katherine Springett practiced medicine, including surgery, and Penington learned much from her. There is no evidence that she was involved with medical practice herself, but much later she did pass on some of what she had learnt to her daughter, Gulielma.

When she was 18, Penington married Sir William Springett, one of Katherine’s sons. The couple had one son, John Springett.

The English Civil War between the King and Parliament was raging in many parts of the country, and William soon served in the Parliamentary army. In 1643, he helped to recapture Arundel, on the south coast, but was then taken ill with a fever. He died on February 3, 1644, not long after Mary reached him. Their daughter was born a few days later and was named Gulielma Maria Posthuma. Gulielma would later marry William Penn in 1672. Katherine Springett went to live with Mary to help her to look after her children.

In 1654, Penington married Isaac Penington, the son of Sir Isaac Penington, the Lord Mayor of London. They settled in Chalfont Grange, near Chalfont St. Peter in Buckinghamshire, where they had five children. In 1658, Mary and Isaac Penington became convinced Quakers. Mary Penington died in 1680.