Rachel Speght

Rachel Speght was born in London, England in 1597. Her father was an ordained doctor from Christ's college in Cambridge, rector of two churches and an author of religious tract. Her Mother on the other hand died sometime during 1617-1621 and very little is known about her. However Speght's mother had a huge impact on her life which can be seen throughout many of her writings and was even an inspiration for one of her writing "Mortalities Memorandum" . Despite not attending college and her age Speght was well educated in many areas along the lines of classical curriculum which included: Classical texts, Christian Texts, Latin and logic. At the Age of 19, she publishes the piece "A Mouzell for Melastomus", a rebuttal to Joseph Swetnam's misogynistic pamphlet, where she not only dismantled Swetnam's argument by using the same evidence but by reinterpreting scripture and using logic based facts to influence not only her writing but the advancement of women. Later at the age of 24, she not only married to William Procter, A Calvinist minister, she also published her second piece of work "Mortalities Memorandum"  which is a collection of poems that defend the need for women's education to improve both their minds and their souls. The poems also go in depth about preparation of death and meditation.