#ladies of history

Lady Ursula Walsingham

Born in 1532, Ursula was the daughter of Henry St Barbe and Eleanor Lewknor. She first married Sir Richard Worsley, Captain of the Isle of Wight. She bore Worsley two sons, John and George. When Worsley died in 1565, Ursula was considered a wealthy woman owning two estates left to her by her late husband.

Shortly after her first husband died, Ursula remarried to Sir Francis Walsingham. The same year, her sons by Worsley, John and George, were killed in a gunpowder accident at their estate on the Isle of Wight. Ursula and Francis had two daughters: Frances born in 1767 who married Sir Phillip Sidney, and Mary who died young.

Sir Francis served as English Ambassador to the French court, and Ursula traveled with him. When the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre took place in 1572, Sir Francis and Ursula opened their home in Paris to Protestants seeking refuge from the terror. Ursula escaped to England with her daughters as soon as it was safe where Sir Francis later rejoined her. 

Ursula and Francis had a comfortably happy marriage and kept busy with their separate duties. He was a loyal “spymaster” to Queen Elizabeth I. She was a devoted wife and mother. When Francis died in 1590, Ursula lived on an annuity at their house in Barn Elms. She outlived him by twelve years and died in 1602.