Background
Lady Elizabeth Parker Fane (1751-1829) was born in Shirburn Castle, Watlington,
Oxfordshire, the family seat of the Earls of Macclesfield; she was the daughter of Thomas
Parker, 3rd Earl of Macclesfield, and Mary Parker, the daughter of Sir William Heathcote,
1st Baronet. In 1773, Elizabeth Parker married John Fane (1751-1824) and together they had
six children; their home was in Wormsley, near Watlington, Oxfordshire. John Fane was a Tory
politician who represented Oxfordshire in eight successive Parliaments; he was also the
president of the Oxfordshire Agriculture Society. While still a teenager, Lady Elizabeth was
taught botanical illustration by Georg Ehret, a German who arrived in England in 1736, he
was considered the pre-eminent botanical draughtsman of the eighteenth century. Ehret taught
both Lady Elizabeth and her mother, Mary Parker, Countess of Macclesfield. In the eighteenth
century, botanical illustration was deemed essential education for aristocratic women and
both women became expert amateurs. Lady Elizabeth died in June 1829.
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