{{Short description|Primrose League leading member}} {{Infobox person|image=File:Sir_Thomas_and_Jane_Lady_Burnett_and_family_c_1620.jpg| caption= Burdett and her family from about 1620}}
'''Jane Burdett''' born '''Jane Francis''' became '''Jane, Lady Burdett''' (d. 1637). She lived at Foremark in Derbyshire and she was known for her learning.
==Life== Burdett's birthplace and date are not known but she was the daughter (possibly only child) of Elizabeth and William Francis of the small hamlet of Foremark. Her mother's father was William Francis and she came from the south Derbyshire village of Ticknall. She is presumed to have been a minor when she married Thomas Burdett from Bramcote in Warwickshire as he was not yet an adult.<ref name=jorb/>
Her husband was knighted on 25 February 1619<ref name=Cockayne>[https://archive.org/stream/cu31924092524374#page/n141/mode/2up George Edward Cokayne ''Complete Baronetage Volume 1'' 1900]</ref> and she became Lady Burnett. At about this time a painting was made of the family and this includes six children.<ref name=jorb/>
Her husband had been High Sheriff of Derbyshire and they had at least five children. Jane was renowned for her learning.<ref name=jorb>{{Cite ODNB |title=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |date=2004-09-23 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/67232 |editor-last=Matthew |editor-first=H. C. G. |access-date=2023-06-29 |place=Oxford |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/67232 |editor2-last=Harrison |editor2-first=B.}}</ref> She was known as a literary patron and it has been speculated that she was a poet and muse. She may have held a salon as part of the circle of John Newdigate who later wrote poetry about her abilities.<ref name="poetesse">{{Cite journal |last=Polito |first=Mary |date=2011-12-05 |title='This rare Poetesse': The Remains of Lady Jane Burdett |url=https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/eth/article/view/15922 |journal=Early Theatre |language=en |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=203–226 |doi=10.12745/et.14.2.880 |issn=2293-7609|doi-access=free }}</ref>
==Death and legacy== She died in 1637.<ref name=jorb/>
In 1650 Thomas Calvert published an account of her funeral under the title of "The Wearie Souls Wish: Or, The Doves Wings being ...."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Calvert |first=Thomas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xTIjmQEACAAJ&q=The+Wearie+Soules+Wish,+or,+The+Doves+Wings |title=The Wearie Souls Wish: Or, The Doves Wings: Being Some Meditations on Psalm. 55.6. Preached at the Funeral of the Honoured and Vertuous Ladie, Ladie Jane Burdett, Wife to Sir Thomas Burdett, Baronet, of Formark in Derby-shire, March 24. 1637 |date=1650 |publisher=By T. Broad, at his shopp near Common-Halls-Gate. |language=en}}</ref> Poems are included in the publication which may have been used at her funeral.<ref name=poetesse/>
A painting made of the family in about 1620 is in the National Portrait Gallery.<ref name=jorb/>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Burdett, Jane}} Category:1637 deaths Category:People from Derbyshire Category:English women poets Category:17th-century English scholars