The poet, writer and dramatist Aphra Behn (1640?-1689) was
probably the daughter of a barber called Johnson and was born in
Kent. Little is known of her early life but she did spend some
time in Surinam in South America. Her husband Johann Behn
apparently died a few years after their marriage. She wrote many
plays and poems and became associated with the circle of the Earl
of Rochester. Charles II employed her as a spy or agent during
the Dutch war. However her reputation was so bad that no one
believed her when she warned of a Dutch raid along the Medway
river but the raid actually did take place. Her most famous novel
is
Oroonoko, or the History of the Royal Slave. She was
buried in the East Cloister of the Abbey and her gravestone
reads:
"MRS APHRA BEHN DYED APRIL 16 A.D. 1689. Here lies a Proof
that Wit can never be Defence enough against Mortality."
A photograph of the gravestone can be purchased from
Westminster Abbey Library.
Further reading:
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004
"The Secret Life of Aphra Behn" by Janet Todd, 1996.