ST PETER'S CHURCH
TAWSTOCK, DEVON
Countess Rachel (nee Fane) of Bath (1612-1680) was daughter of Sir Francis Fane (1580-1628) and Mary Mildmay (1581-1640), and her first husband was Sir Henry Bourchier (1587-1654). She was aunt of Frances Fane who married John Giffard (1639-1712).
Her memorial statue in St Peter's, Tawstock, bears the following inscription which reads in translation:
A Countess really worthy of Henry, who had scarce an equal, either in spirit or virtue. In domestic, civil and religious affairs, she had a genius exceeding that of a man, and such a motherly disposition that scarce a greater existed in the world. She was a humble and devoted daughter of the Church of England, and in times of persecution a mother to distressed pastors, and in these parts, almost their only protrectress. This alone was worthy of our tears, that in her the noble name of Bourchier would have been extinct, if she had not been endowed with virtues sufficient to render it immortal. And though she was childless, yet she was parent to more than a thousand children, who in a very genteel manner she brought up, gave them portions, consecrated and even ennobled. She still lives, and never will die, while any spark of gratitude remains in this country.
[image copyright: Jane Sercombe Lewis]