Anne Gibson (nee Shepherd), Dwarf and Court Page (1621-1709)

While her potential role in Lady Villiers's clandestine literary activities must remain speculative at present, I have discovered a few relevant facts. Evidently, Anne Gibson was more than a court curiosity and employee, for she enjoyed close ties to Stuart court culture through the agency of her husband (also a dwarf), Richard ("Dick") Gibson (1615?-1690), an acknowledged portait-miniaturist and Drawing-Master to the princesses Mary and Anne. Shortly after the death of Charles I in 1649, the Gibsons were taken under the protection of Philip, Earl of Pembroke, and resided at Wilton House. Anne Gibson and Lady Villiers, who herself resided at Wilton in the mid-1630s, had some mutual life-experiences.

In addition to profiles of the Gibsons in the Grove Dictionary of Art and Bryan's Dictionary, see J. Murdoch and V.J. Murrell, "The Monogrammist, DG: Dwarf Gibson & His Patrons," Burlington Magazine, CXXIII, (1981), 282-289).