Lady Blanche Arundell

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Blanche Somerset was the sixth daughter of Edward Somerset, 4th earl of Worcester (1553-March 3,1628) and Elizabeth Hastings (c.1546-August 24,1621). She was one of the young women who danced at her brother’s wedding to Anne Russell in 1600. In 1607, she married Thomas Arundell, 2nd baron Arundell of Wardour (c.1586-May 19,1643). In the absence of her husband and her son, Henry (February 1608-1694), during the Civil War, Blanche was called upon to defend their home, Wardour Castle, Wiltshire. She held out from May 2 until May 8, at which point the castle was ransacked and she was taken prisoner. She was already ill when she was taken from Wardour to Doncaster. With Blanche at Wardour were her daughter-in-law, Cecily Compton, and her three grandchildren. They were separated after the castle fell. Blanche was released before the end of May and went to Salisbury. It was there that she was finally told that her husband had died from wounds suffered in battle while she was a prisoner. That September, Blanche’s son laid siege to Wardour Castle and retook it the following March. Two months later, his children were released in a prisoner exchange. Blanche died at Winchester and was buried at Tisbury. Biography: Oxford DNB entry under “Arundell, Blanche [n%C3%A9e Lady Blanche Somerset].” Portrait: engraving by Edward Scriven after an unknown artist.

• Lady Blanche Somerset Arundell Find A Grave Memorial# 103441658

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Lady Blanche Arundell (née Somerset) (1583 or c. 1584 – 28 October 1649) was born to Edward Somerset, 4th Earl of Worcester and Lady Elizabeth Hastings.

On 11 May 1607 (date of settlement for the marriage) she married Thomas Arundell, 2nd Baron Arundell of Wardour, son of Thomas Arundell, 1st Baron Arundell of Wardour and Lady Mary Wriothesley.

On 2 May 1643, during the absence of her husband she defended Wardour Castle for nine days[1] with only herself, her children, a few maid-servants, and twenty-five men against the Parliamentary forces of thirteen hundred men[2] and artillery commanded by two Parliamentary officers, Sir Edward Hungerford and Colonel Edmund Ludlow. She finally was forced to surrender on honourable terms. However the terms were not honoured, with the castle being sacked, and she was removed as a prisoner to Dorchester. But on her husband's return the parliament forces were soon dislodged.

She died at Winchester, Hampshire, and was buried at Tisbury, Wiltshire. Her will (dated 28 September 1649) was probated on 2 November 1649.