mond, to procure her admission to a protestant
nunnery in Holland, but he succeeded in
reconciling her to her mother. In July 1646
Howard married Lady Elizabeth Mordaunt.
Anne's mother died on 28 Aug. of the
following year, and shortly afterwards, through
her brother Will, she made the acquaintance
of Joseph Bampfield [q. v.] He pleased her
by his serious discourse, and she helped him
in contriving the escape of the Duke of York
by procuring from her tailor a female
disguise for the duke. She herself dressed the
duke in the disguise at the waterside—and
provided him also with a Woodstreet
cake—before he entered the barge that conveyed
him to the ship at Greenwich. After the
escape of the duke she had frequent
interviews with Bampfield, who made use of her
in the conveyance of letters between him
and the king. He persuaded her that his
wife was dead, and offered her his hand. In
the autumn of 1649 she was on a visit to Anne,
wife of Sir Charles Howard of Naworth
Castle, when she heard of Bampfield's arrest,
and was then informed that his wife was
alive. This caused a serious illness, in which
her life was despaired of. Her recovery was
assisted by the happy news that—as she
supposed in answer to her prayers—Bampfield
had escaped from the Gatehouse. At the
instance of Bampfield, in whose good faith she
had still implicit trust, the Earl of
Derwentwater promised that if she came to Scotland
he would assist her in the recovery of part
of her inheritance. Bampfield was himself
then in Scotland. She reached Edinburgh
on 6 June 1650, and was introduced to
Charles II at Dunfermline. After the battle
of Dunbar she left on 2 Sept. for the north,
but was delayed two days at Kinross,
attending the soldiers wounded in the battle. On
Reaching Perth she received the special thanks
of the king for the exercise of her skill, and
he sent her from Aberdeen a reward of fifty
pieces. Bampfield still protested his innocence,
and she consented to an interview. She
remained for about two years with the Countess
of Dunfermline at Fyvie, Aberdeenshire,
where she was visited by a large number of
sick and wounded persons. In June 1652
she returned to Edinburgh, where she began
a law-suit for the recovery of the portion left
her by her mother. She stayed there to assist
Bampfield in royalist plots. In February
1652-3 he left to promote a rising in the
north, when she was disquieted by the
prediction of Jane Hambleton, supposed to be
gifted with the second sight, that Bampfield
should never be her husband, and shortly
afterwards news reached her that Bampfield's
wife was undoubtedly living in London (ib.
p. 83). Sir James Halkett, who had already
paid her his addresses, now induced her to
undertake the charge of his two daughters,
and to give him also a conditional promise
of marriage. In 1654 she paid a visit to
London, when Bampfield obtained an interview by surprise, and asked whether she was married to Sir James Halkett. She said 'I
am' (out aloud), and secretly said 'not.' He immediately rose up and said, 'I wish you and him much happiness together' (ib. p. 99). She was married to Halkett 2 March 1656 at her sister's house at Charleton, and a few days afterwards returned to Scotland. While pregnant with her first child, and apprehensive that she might die in childbirth,
she wrote a tract entitled 'The Mother's Will
to her Unborn Child.' On the death of
Charles I she had been deprived of her
interest, amounting to 412l. annually, due upon
an unexpired lease of Barhamstead, a house
and park belonging to the king. She had also
found that her 'malignancy' had rendered her
efforts for the recovery of 2,000l. of her
portion entirely fruitless. At the Restoration
she applied for compensation, but received
nothing more than 500l out of the exchequer,
and 50l. from the Duke of York as a gift to
one of her children. After her husband's
death in 1676 she found it necessary to
supplement her income by taking the charge, in
her house at Dunfermline, of the education
of the children of several persons of rank.
James II, after his accession in 1685, rewarded her services to him in assisting his escape by a pension of 100l. a year. She died 22 April 1699.
Lady Halkett left twenty volumes in manuscript, chiefly on religious subjects. A list of the contents is given in her 'Life,' prefixed to the volume of her writings published in 1701. This volume contains: (1) 'Meditations on the Seventieth and Fifth Psalm;' (2) 'Meditations and Prayers upon the First Week; with Observations on each Days Creation; and Considerations on the Seven Capital Vices to be opposed; and their opposite vertues to be studied and practised;' and (3) 'Instructions for Youth.' Her autobiography was first printed at length by the Camden Society in 1875.
[Life of Lady Halkett, 1701; Autobiography of Anne, Lady Halkett (Camden Society, 1875).]
HALKETT, ELIZABETH, afterwards Lady Wardlaw (1677–1727). [See Wardlaw.]
HALKETT, Sir COLIN (1774–1856), general, governor of Chelsea Hospital, eldest son of Major-general Frederick or Frederick
