Gertrude Aston Thimelby

Gertrude Aston Thimelby (, c. 1617–1668) was an English recusant, poet and author, who became a Roman Catholic nun later in life.

Life Thimelby was born about 1617 on the family estate in Tixal, Staffordshire. She was the fourth daughter and one of the ten children of Walter Aston, 1st Lord Aston of Forfar, a British diplomat, and his wife Gertrude Aston (née Sadler), who had married in 1607. Her mother was the daughter of Thomas Sadler of Standon and his wife Ursula Sharington; and was the granddaughter of Ralph Sadler, statesman and the treasurer-general to King Edward VI.

In 1622, Thimbley's father was sent to Madrid as the resident ambassador to the Spanish court to negotiate a marriage between Charles, the Prince of Wales, and the Infanta Maria Anna of Spain and also provisions for joint naval operations to patrol and suppress piracy. He took his wife and children with him. Sir Walter stayed in Spain for six years, where he converted to Roman Catholicism.

In 1645, she married Henry Thimelby (died 1655), who the third son of Richard Thimelby and was form a large recusant family. and was the wife of her own brother Herbert Aston. The families have been described as "closely knit." after the deaths of her husband and only child, Sister Gertrude died lived for the rest of her life at St. Monica's Convent and died in 1668.