Anne Locke

Anne Locke (Lock, Lok) (1530 – after 1590) was an English poet, translator and Calvinist religious figure. She was the first English author to publish a sonnet sequence, A Meditation of a Penitent Sinner (1560).

Anne Locke was the daughter of Stephen Vaughan, a merchant, royal envoy, and prominent early supporter of the Protestant Reformation. Her mother, Margaret (or Margery) Gwynnethe (or Guinet) was a silkwoman in the Tudor court who worked for both Anne Boleyn and Catherine Parr. Anne was the eldest surviving child, and had two siblings, Jane and Stephen (b. 4 October 1537). Following the death of the children's mother in c.1540, Anne's father took great efforts to find a tutor for the children, selecting a Mr. Cob, who was proficient in Latin, Greek, and French, as well as a dedicated Protestant. Stephen Vaughan remarried in April 1546, to Margery Brinklow, the widow of Henry Brinklow, mercer and polemicist, who had been a long-time acquaintance of the Vaughn family. Stephen Vaughan died on 25 December 1549, leaving most of his property to his widow and son, with the rents of one house in Cheapside going to his daughters.

In c.1541 Anne married Henry Locke (Lok), a younger son of the mercer Sir William Lok. In 1550, Sir William died, leaving a substantial inheritance to Henry, which included several houses, shops, a farm, and freehold lands. In 1553 the notorious Scottish reformer and preacher John Knox lived for a period in the Lok household, during which time he and Locke seem to have developed a strong relationship, attested to by their correspondence over the following years. Following the ascension of Mary Tudor, and the accompanying pressure on English nonconformists which saw Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley executed in 1555, Knox encouraged Lock to leave London and join the exiled Protestant community in Geneva. Knox seems to have been worried both for her physical safety and her spiritual health if she remained in London. Henry Lok seems to have been resistant to the idea of entering into exile, as Knox argues that Anne should "call first for grace by Jesus to follow that whilk is acceptabill in his sight, and thairefter communicat" with her husband.

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