Aphra Behn
1640-1689

Born in Kent England, she would become one of the stars in playwrighting.

As typical with most of the MacThoys, her background is shrouded in mystery.  

She did travel in her youth, returned to England where she was married around 1664.  Her husband died the following year during the plague.  

Being a widow offered a form of freedom of movement for a woman of the 1600s.  She was able to travel to Netherlands as a spy for Charles II.  She even warned him of the Dutch invasion of Thames but was ignored.  He even refused to cover her expenses.  Behn was forced to return to London in debt in 1666.  

She reappeared in 1670 with the production of her first play The Forc'd Marriage.