a poet and essayist. Jane Bowdler took to writing when she lost her voice for a period of four years in about 1777. She had suffered from intermittent ill health since contracting smallpox in 1759. She died in 1784 at Ashley and was buried in the family vault in London. Jane's Poems and Essays by a Lady Lately Deceased was published by her family for charity in 1786 and reprinted 16 times up to 1830.
