Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Baynard, Ann
BAYNARD, ANN (1672–1697), noted for her learning and piety, was the only child of Dr. Edward Baynard [q. v.], and was born at Preston. She was carefully trained by her father in philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, physics, and classical literature. According to her chief panegyrist, at the age of twenty-three she ‘was arrived at the knowledge of a bearded philosopher.’ Her piety and charity were equally notable. ‘The great end of her study,’ writes Collier, in his ‘Great Historical Dictionary,’ ‘was to encounter atheists and libertines, as may be seen in some seven satyrs written in the Latin tongue, in which language she had a great readiness and fluency of expression, which made a gentleman of no small parts and learning say of her:—
Annam gens Solymæa, Annam gens Belgica jactat:
At superas Annas, Anna Baynarda, duas.’
She earnestly urged the ladies of her acquaintance to live serious lives and abandon ‘visits, vanity, and toys’ for ‘study and thinking.’ The last two years of her life were mainly spent in meditation in the churchyard at Barnes, Surrey. She died at Barnes on 12 June 1697, aged about 25, and was buried there a few days later. At her funeral John Prude, curate of St. Clement Danes, London, preached a biographical sermon, which was printed with a dedication to her female friends.
[J. Prude's Sermon on Eccl. ii. 16, at the funeral of Mrs. Ann Baynard, 1697; Collier's Dictionary, s.v. ‘Ralph Baynard,’ ad fin.; Ballard's Memoirs of Learned Ladies; Wilford's Memorials; Chalmers's Biog. Dict.; Palatine Notebook, ii. 212.]