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Faith <I>Coghill</I> Wren

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Faith Coghill Wren

Birth
Bletchingdon, Cherwell District, Oxfordshire, England
Death
3 Sep 1675 (aged 39)
Greater London, England
Burial
Westminster, City of Westminster, Greater London, England Add to Map
Memorial ID
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Sir Christopher Wren married Faith Coghill, daughter of Sir Thomas Coghill of Bletchingdon, Oxfordshire, on 7 Dec 1669.

Little is known of Faith, but a love letter from Wren survives, which reads, in part:

I have sent your Watch at last & envy the felicity of it, that it should be soe near your side & soe often enjoy your Eye. ... .but have a care for it, for I have put such a spell into it; that every Beating of the Balance will tell you 'tis the Pulse of my Heart, which labors as much to serve you and more trewly than the Watch; for the Watch I beleeve will sometimes lie, and sometimes be idle & unwilling ... but as for me you may be confident I shall never ...[29]

This brief marriage produced two children: Gilbert, born October 1672, who suffered from convulsions and died at about 18 months old, and Christopher, born February 1675. The younger Christopher was trained by his father to be an architect. It was this Christopher that supervised the topping out ceremony of St Paul's in 1710 and wrote the famous Parentalia, or, Memoirs of the family of the Wrens.

Faith Wren died of smallpox on 3 September 1675. She was buried in the chancel of St Martin-in-the-Fields beside the infant Gilbert. A few days later Wren's mother-in-law, Lady Coghill, arrived to take the infant Christopher back with her to Oxfordshire to raise.

[29] Tinniswood, Adrian (2001). His Invention So Fertile: A Life of Christopher Wren. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-514989-0."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Wren
Sir Christopher Wren married Faith Coghill, daughter of Sir Thomas Coghill of Bletchingdon, Oxfordshire, on 7 Dec 1669.

Little is known of Faith, but a love letter from Wren survives, which reads, in part:

I have sent your Watch at last & envy the felicity of it, that it should be soe near your side & soe often enjoy your Eye. ... .but have a care for it, for I have put such a spell into it; that every Beating of the Balance will tell you 'tis the Pulse of my Heart, which labors as much to serve you and more trewly than the Watch; for the Watch I beleeve will sometimes lie, and sometimes be idle & unwilling ... but as for me you may be confident I shall never ...[29]

This brief marriage produced two children: Gilbert, born October 1672, who suffered from convulsions and died at about 18 months old, and Christopher, born February 1675. The younger Christopher was trained by his father to be an architect. It was this Christopher that supervised the topping out ceremony of St Paul's in 1710 and wrote the famous Parentalia, or, Memoirs of the family of the Wrens.

Faith Wren died of smallpox on 3 September 1675. She was buried in the chancel of St Martin-in-the-Fields beside the infant Gilbert. A few days later Wren's mother-in-law, Lady Coghill, arrived to take the infant Christopher back with her to Oxfordshire to raise.

[29] Tinniswood, Adrian (2001). His Invention So Fertile: A Life of Christopher Wren. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-514989-0."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Wren


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