Lady Katherine Ferrers

Katherine Ferrers
The only extant portrait of Katherine Ferrers, supposedly at the age of 14, which now sits at the Valence House Museum.
Born	4 May 1634 Bayford, Hertfordshire, England
Died	– 13 June 1660 St. Mary’s Church, Ware, Hertfordshire, England
Other names	Mistress Catherine Fanshawe, "Wicked Lady" {alleged}
Occupation	gentlewoman, highwayman {Alleged}
Spouse(s)	Thomas Fanshawe
Parent(s)	Knighton Ferrers and Katherine (or Catherine) Walters

Katherine Ferrers (4 May 1634 – c. 13 June 1660) was an English gentlewoman and heiress. According to popular legend, she was also the "Wicked Lady", a female highwayman who terrorised the English county of Hertfordshire before dying from gunshot wounds sustained during a robbery.

Katherine Ferrers was born on May 4, 1634 at Bayford in Hertfordshire to Knighton Ferrers and his wife, the former Katherine (or Catherine) Walters, and heir to a considerable fortune. The Ferrers family were fervent Protestants and great favourites of both Henry VIII and Edward VI; the latter granted them extensive properties in Hertfordshire, including Bayford, Ponsbourne, Agnells, the family mansion at Flamstead, and the manor house of Markyate Cell at Markyate. Knighton Ferrers died in 1640, and Katherine's grandfather, Sir George Ferrers, died soon after. Katherine's brother, who was the heir to the family fortunes, had died young, so by court decree in October 1640, she was appointed sole heir to her grandfather's estates. Her widowed mother married Sir Simon Fanshawe later that same year. The Fanshawe family were committed Royalists, and when the Civil War broke out in 1642, Simon, his new wife and stepdaughter joined King Charles I in Oxford, his wartime capital. Her mother died that winter, leaving eight-year-old Katherine in the care of her stepfather. As the fighting continued, Fanshawe was at the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644, and was taken prisoner two years later. During this time Katherine was made a ward of the court by Simon Fanshawe's brother, Richard, and his wife Ann. She was then sent to live with Simon's sister, Alice, at Hamerton in Huntingdonshire.