Jane Whorwood (1612-1684) was a complicated character who repeatedly risked her life for her convictions.
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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I’m Jenny Kaplan. And this is Encyclopedia Womannica.
During a time when Britain was marred by political conflict and civil war, this spy was a complicated character who repeatedly risked her life for her convictions. Let’s talk about Jane Whorwood.
Jane was born in London in 1612. She grew up in the heart of the city, where her mother, Elizabeth, was a laundress for the Queen.
In 1617, Jane’s father died and her mother remarried a man named James Maxwell. James was already a close envoy to the King, but he soon became Black Rod, the person in charge of maintaining order in the House of Lords. He also became one of the king’s most successful fundraisers.
Thanks to the influence of her stepfather, Jane grew up close to the royal family and the court. This association forged a loyalty to the monarchy that would continue through adulthood. Jane also had the opportunity to be very well-educated. Later descriptions called Jane witty, brave, and “well-languaged.”
In 1634, Jane’s stepfather arranged for her to marry Brome Whorwood. The match earned Jane a large dowry, as Brome was the heir to multiple estates.
Brome would later prove to be a verbally and physically abusive husband. Their relationship would be fraught with almost 30 years of litigation. Jane’s in-laws strongly disapproved of her -- likely because she broke gender norms with her strong-willed confidence, and because her red hair was a sign of Scottish ancestry, which was looked down upon by the English. Nonetheless, Brome and Jane had four children together.
Throughout the 1630’s, tensions between Parliament and the king were brewing. Through her stepfather, Jane had an intimate look at the early signs of war.
Then, in 1642, Parliament took control of London, officially kicking off the First Civil War. King Charles I was forced to flee and establish court in Oxford.
At the time, Jane lived near Oxford, directly along a route used by agents of both sides of the war. She was uniquely positioned to get involved herself, and her strong loyalty to the king drew her to the Royalist side. She became one of the most important secret agents for the Royalist cause.
Jane arranged the smuggling of gold bars through Parliamentary checkpoints in soap barrels. In 1644 alone, she smuggled the equivalent of £9.4 million today! Though the Royalists eventually surrendered in 1646, Jane’s contribution to the cause was immense. Even after the official surrender, she still didn’t give up.
While King Charles I attempted to negotiate his way back to power with Parliament, Jane lay in wait ready to help. In 1647, she embezzled funds from Parliament and sent gold to the King. This was discovered a few years later and Jane was briefly imprisoned, but she was released after her mother repaid the money. This was the closest Jane ever came to getting caught for her secret agent work.
The following year, the king was imprisoned in Carisbrooke Castle. Jane was the primary manager of two escape attempts. The first attempt failed because King Charles got stuck in the metal window bars. For the second, Jane arranged for acid and a hacksaw to be smuggled in to fix the iron bar problem. She also prepared a ship to smuggle the king to Holland. Even so, the plan went up in flames when the guards they paid off betrayed the king.
Throughout that time, Jane and the King directly exchanged letters about securing the King’s freedom. Some of this correspondence was even romantic in nature. King Charles wrote to request a private, sexual meeting -- which became possible after his restrictions were loosened enough to allow personal visits. In her other personal writing, Jane expressed conflict between her duty and her feelings.
As negotiations dragged on, it became clear that Parliament wouldn’t accept anything but absolute compliance. Jane frantically wrote to the king and warned him that he had to escape as soon as possible. She helped arrange another escape plan -- but King Charles, tired of all the escape attempts, dismissed her. He was executed in January of 1649. Just like that, Jane’s cause was lost.
Jane lived for another 35 years, but she never received recognition for her work -- even after the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660. When Jane’s husband Brome passed away, she wasn’t written into his will, nor was she written into the wills of her in-laws. She died in 1684, at age 72, with little money to her name.
The politics of Jane’s cause are complicated. Still,she notably defied gender roles and expectations by sticking to her convictions no matter what happened -- through abuse from her husband, imprisonment, and considerable personal danger.
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