Anne Stanley, Countess of Ancram

Anne Stanley
Countess of Ancram
Died1657
BuriedWestminster Abbey
Noble familyStanley (by birth)
Kerr (by marriage)
Spouse(s)
Sir Henry Portman
​
​
(m. 1615; died 1621)​
Issue
FatherWilliam Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby
MotherElizabeth de Vere

Anne Stanley, Countess of Ancram (died 1657) was an English aristocrat.

Anne Stanley was a daughter of William Stanley, 6th Earl of Derby, and Elizabeth de Vere, Countess of Derby. Through her paternal grandmother, she was a great-great-granddaughter of Mary Tudor, Queen of France and Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, thereby making her a direct descendant of Henry VII. On 20 July 1615, she married Sir Henry Portman (1596–1621) of Orchard Portman, Somerset, a Member of Parliament and Keeper of Roche Forest. [1] The couple had no children. In November 1621, Prince Charles wrote to Anne's mother, proposing Sir Robert Kerr as a second husband for Anne, arguing that his position in court as a Gentleman of the Bedchamber made up for his lack of wealth. Anne married Kerr. He became the Earl of Ancram in 1633.[2]

Kerr lived in exile in Amsterdam during the Civil War. His royal pension was stopped by the Commonwealth. Lady Ancram petitioned Parliament for funds in both September 1653 and again in 1654, seeking support for her six surviving children. She received £5 weekly. According to the Bank of England's inflation calculator, £5 in 1633 would be the equivalent of £1,158.33 in 2020 ($1,600.41 USD).[3] Robert Kerr died in Amsterdam in 1654.[4]

Anne died in February 1657 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. There is no monument.[5]

  1. ^ Alan Davidson, 'PORTMAN, Sir Henry, 2nd Bt. (1596-1621)', in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629, ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, 2010
  2. ^ Correspondence of Sir Robert Kerr, first Earl of Ancram, vol. 1 (Roxburghe Club: Edinburgh, 1875), pp. 27-8.
  3. ^ "Inflation calculator". www.bankofengland.co.uk. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
  4. ^ Correspondence of Sir Robert Kerr, first Earl of Ancram, vol. 1 (Roxburghe Club: Edinburgh, 1875), pp. xl-xliv, see her signature, p. xliv.
  5. ^ Westminster Abbey, Commemorations, Anne Stanley Countess of Ancrum