Wilton Women: Chatelaines, Saints and Pioneers, by R E and M S G Foster

‘It is a truth universally acknowledged’, wrote Jane Austen, ‘that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife’. How much more urgent a requirement, then, if that man is possessed of an enormous fortune and an hereditary title? Few have been as vexed by this question than the Herbert Earls of Pembroke. In addressing it, the authors relate the tale of the womenfolk who have helped support, sustain, and supply the answer for approaching five centuries. But this is also the story of Wilton, variously the ancient capital of Wessex, prestigious medieval abbey, and stately home. Royal and Herbert patronage could not but bring remarkable women, who never became Countess of Pembroke, into its orbit. They include icons, such as Mary Sidney and Florence Nightingale, heiresses and eccentrics, a Princess and a Saint. The Authors both work as guides at Wilton House. July 2022, 201pp, colour illustrated paperback, £14.95, ISBN 978-1-914407-36-9