Lucy Hutchinson (1620–1681) was born in London and, at an early age, showed an aptitude for Latin, theology, and other subjects; she was encouraged by her mother to devote herself to God and by her father to study diligently. After her father’s death, the family struggled with financial and emotional difficulties as her mother experienced an unhappy second marriage. Lucy lived with various relatives until she met and married John Hutchinson, who initially sought her out after seeing her written work; they were a match spiritually and intellectually, and filled their household with the study of Scripture and debates about doctrine. Soon after, John enlisted in the parliamentarian army and became the governor of Nottingham and Nottingham castle. 

In addition to actively supporting his work and advocating for his release from prison (due to his signing of the death warrant for Charles I), Lucy also wrote several works of narrative, poetry, and theology. She recorded John’s experiences in the army and prison in her Memoirs of the Colonel Hutchinson as well as her grief over his death in Elegies, and would later go on to write Order and Disorder, an epic poem on Genesis, and ‘Principles of the Christian Religion’, a systematic theology for her daughter Barbara, as well as translations of Lucretius’ De rerum natura and Owen’s Theologoumena Pantadopa. Though some have confused her Memoirs with romance, it has functioned as an important historical text, setting her apart as a female historian of the English civil wars. more than this, Order and Disorder is the first epic poem to be written by an Englishwoman, and ‘Principles’ is the lengthiest and most systematic theological text written by a woman in the seventeenth century. Her translations further establish her reputation as a scholar who interacted with long and difficult texts. For a time, she attended John Owen’s congregation.

Hutchinson was a committed Calvinist and largely affirmed the Westminster Catechism. Though she raised doubts about specific doctrines like infant baptism and church membership, she fits squarely within the Reformed tradition. As a woman, she did not have control of publishing her own writings on her own terms, but they now witness to her political and religious involvement in society and leadership at home.

Where to Begin

CEMS, “The Lucy Hutchinson Project”
Jenny-Lyn de Klerk, “Why Pastors Should Engage Lucy Hutchinson”
Jenny-Lyn de Klerk, “Lucy Hutchinson’s Theological Reflections on Motherhood”