Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-01-25
FAMOUS WOMEN OF HISTORY.
LADY JANE GREY, 1537-1554.
Copyrighted, 1912. by Willis J. Abbott

The royal records Of England bear few
stories of more pathos than that of Lady
Jane Grey. An unloved child, offered a
one time as a pledge for borrowed money
educated under the harshest system
throne of England, married against hel
protest to an unloved husband. proclaimed
queen for nine-day reign. and finally
things befell Jane Grey. and her SUM,
head dropped into the basket when She
was Just seventeen years Old, =,
Perhaps the gamut of human life and
human vicissitudes was never in rthi:
worlds history so swiftly run.
The child for whom the future held 81
much of dire disaster was born in Octo
Der, 1851. Her parents were noble. Hell
father, Henry Grey. was Marquis OF Dor
set; her mother was a granddaughter tt
King Henry VII and niece to Henry VIII
1t was that drop or two of royal blood ir
her veins that brought her finally to the
block.
Liked Her Severe Schooling.
When Henry VIII, the king Of many
wives. died and in his will mentioned
Jane Grey as one of those entitled to the
royal succession ambition seized upor
the Grey household. Then her education
was begun in dead earnest, apparently
with the view of fitting her to become
the consort of the boy king. Edward vi
Her schooling seems to our modern idea:
curious. But, added to the arts of music
and department and the Accomplishment
of modern languages. there was forced
upon the luckless child the study Of He
brew and Chaldee! Yet. from her OWL
writing we learn that she did not FIND
her school days irksome. Zone of the
greatest benefits God ever gave me-, sht
wrote. has been sharp and severe par
ents and gentle schoolmaster."
Jane was both precocious and brilliant
and beauty resulted in the child's being
called to court and attached to the per
son of the queen dOwager. Here she
made hosts of friends by her pretty face
and girlsh ways. She seems then to have
been merely normal child. fond Of jew
els pretty clothes and a good time.
Very speedily she drifted away from
her parents, Lord and Lady Dorset, who
in fact, practically decided her over tt
Lord Seymour. husband OF the queer
the possibility of marrying her to the
boy king. Edward-a marriage which. his
torianS agree, would have been politically
wise and would have saved England much
strife and blOOOShed IN later Gays. bu)
the plan fell through. and in the end Sey.
mour went to the tower and thence to the
block-the normal end of constructive
statesmen in those days.
Father Plotted Winning Throne.
Her guardian lost to her, Lady Jane re-
turned to her fathers house. Her re-
tirement from court life, however, was
but brief. In 1851 her father. who had
never shown any particular affection fol
her, was created Duke of Suffolk and at
tached to the court. In the winsome. cul.
tivated girl of fourteen years he saw a
possible aid to his further advancement
For her he plotted nothing less than the
winning of throne. and was ready tc
barter her in marriage or to give hel
over as ward to any noble of high estate
who might further this ambition.
1t happened that at this moment the
Duke of Mort cumberland was the domi-
nant power in the kingdom. He looked
on the sixteenyear-old Lady Jane and
saw.a girl of beauty, esprit and tact, She
was a lilea1 descendant Of Henry VII and
her claim to the throne was made p,aus.
ible at least by the act of Henry VIII
who.- seeking new matrimonial adven-
lures. had not scrupled to declare his
daughters. Mary Tudor and Elizabeth, H.
legitimate. So Northumberland arranged
a marriage between his son Guilford and
Lady Jane. 1t was celebrated in the pal