Eleanor Glanville

Eleanor GlanvilleRefn|While Glanville was sometimes referred to as "Lady Glanville" in writings by her contemporaries, this was simply a term of respect and not a formal title. William had fought in Scotland in support of Oliver Cromwell's army in 1650–1651, and was later granted a royal pardon for his actions in the Restoration of 1660. Eleanor Poynz had inherited several properties from her parents, including manors at Tickenham and Backwell Park and other properties in Somersetshire, and William was her second husband. The Goodricke family lived at Tickenham Court.

Upon her father's death in 1666 (her mother had died nine years prior), Eleanor Goodricke inherited her mother's family estates. She continued residing at Tickenham Court. In 1676, she married a Lincolnshire artist named Edmund Ashfield, and they had a son named Forest Edmund, followed by two twin daughters (only one of whom, Mary, survived birth). Ashfield died in 1679.

Over the years, Glanville sent Petiver boxes of carefully-pinned specimens, collecting lesser-known insects from across England and Wales for Petiver to catalogue and share with the entomological community. One of her boxes included the earliest known specimen of the green hairstreak butterfly. It is the only native British butterfly named after a British naturalist. She died at Tickenham in the early months of 1709, with properties and assets valued at up to £7000 . three of her specimens – two moths and a butterfly, originally given to Petiver – still exist today in the Natural History Museum's Sloane collection. Fiona Mountain's historical romance Lady of the Butterflies (2010) centres around a fictional retelling of Glanville's life story. A new play titled Butterfly, written by Claire Jackson and due to be staged at Hampshire's Phoenix Theatre in June 2026, reimagines Glanville's life story as it might have looked in modern times.