Frances Seymour, Duchess of Somerset

Frances Seymour, Duchess of Somerset (also Frances Thynne ) (born May 10, 1699 , † July 7, 1754 in Percy Lodge, Colnbrook ) was a British noblewoman and poet.

Origin and youth

Frances Seymour was probably born as Frances Thynne in Longleat as the eldest child and co- heir of Henry Thynne and his wife Grace (around 1676-1725), the daughter and heiress of Sir George Strode, probably in Longleat. Her father was the eldest son of the wealthy country nobleman Thomas Thynne, 1st Viscount Weymouth . Frances first grew up in Longleat, her grandfather's mansion, where she befriended the poet and artist Elizabeth Singer , who married Thomas Rowe in 1710 . Another early pen pal was her great-aunt Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea (1661-1720). When her father died in 1708, her mother moved with her to Leweston near Sherborne , the seat of her father George Strode.

Marriage and Life as Lady Hertford

At the age of sixteen, Frances married the officer and courtier Algernon Seymour on July 5, 1715 . For reasons unknown, Frances acquired the hatred of her father-in-law Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset , the Proud Duke , and her mother-in-law, Elizabeth Seymour, Duchess of Somerset . As the eldest son of the Duke of Somerset, Frances husband carried the courtesy title Earl of Hertford , which is why Frances was now called Countess of Hertford or Lady Hertford . Lord Hertford had been given the manor house of Marlborough Castle in Wiltshire for marriage . He had the mansion started by his father, which is now part of Marlborough College , completed, while Lady Hertford designed the garden.

The manor house of Marlborough Castle, the country estate of Frances and her husband Algernon Seymour

Around 1730 they owned a modest country estate at St Leonard's Hill near Windsor , and they also owned a town house in London. In 1723 Lady Hertford became lady-in-waiting ( Lady of the Bedchamber ) of Caroline , the Princess of Wales, who became Queen of Great Britain as the wife of George II in 1727. She received an annual salary of £ 500 for this office. When Queen Caroline died in 1737, Lady Hertford lost her post as Lady of the Bedchamber, for which she received an annual pension of £ 400. They now withdrew to their country estates. In 1739 they sold the small country estate at St Leonard's Hill after acquiring Richings in nearby Colnbrook , Buckinghamshire . They expanded the house and renamed it Percy Lodge .

After the death of her father-in-law, her husband inherited the title Duke of Somerset on December 2, 1748 , making Frances the Duchess of Somerset . After the death of her husband on February 7, 1750, she retired as Dowager Duchess to Percy Lodge, where she also died. She was buried next to her son and husband in Westminster Abbey on July 20, 1754 .

Poet and author of letters

In 1725, two poems written anonymously by Lady Hertford appeared in the book A new miscellany being a collection of pieces of poetry by John Dyer . In 1734, Lady Hertford's friend Isaac Watts published four short poems in his Reliquiae juveniles , which she had written under the pseudonym Eusebia . Due to her persistent reluctance, most of her poems were never published in her lifetime. She also wrote numerous letters, especially to Henrietta Knight, Lady Luxborough , Henrietta Louisa Fermor , Countess of Pomfret , to Isaac Watts, Elizabeth Rowe and members of her family. In her letters she dealt vividly with literature and religion, but also with court gossip and the amusements of country life. Elizabeth Rowe published a few of these letters in her book Miscellaneous Works in 1739 , but as with the poems, most of the letters from Lady Hertford remained unpublished during her lifetime.

Lady Hertford encouraged two generations of poets, including Watts, Rowe, Laurence Eusden , James Thomson , John Dyer , Stephen Duck , John Dalton , William Thompson (1712–1766) and William Shenstone , all of whom in turn praised Lady Hertford in their works. In January 1728, Lady Hertford campaigned successfully with Queen Caroline for Thomson's friend Richard Savage , who had been sentenced to death for murder and was finally pardoned on the Queen's intercession.

Family and offspring

From her marriage to Algernon Seymour, Frances had two children:

• Elizabeth Seymour (1716–1776)
• George Seymour, Viscount Beauchamp (1725–1744)

Lady Hertford was a devout Anglican Christian all her life. Their piety was reinforced when their only, beloved son died of smallpox during his Grand Tour in Italy. Influenced by the book Friendship in Death by her friend Elizabeth Rowe , she is said to have been very interested in Christian spirituality after the death of her son .

Works

• The story of Inkle and Yarrico. A most moving tale from the Spectator. Attempted in veres [sic] by the Right Hon. The Countess of ****. J. Cooper, London 1738
• Helen Sard Hughes: The Gentle Hertford. Her life and letters, etc. (The correspondence of Frances Seymour, Countess of Hertford, afterwards Duchess of Somerset.) New York, Macmillian 1940
• Correspondence between Frances, countess of Hartford (afterwards duchess of Somerset) and Henrietta Louisa, countess of Pomfret, between the years 1738 and 1741. R. Phillips, London 1805
• Select letters between the late duchess of Somerset ... and others. Dodsley, London 1778

Web links

• James Sambrook: Seymour, Frances, duchess of Somerset (1699-1754). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004
• Frances Thynne on thepeerage.com , accessed March 18, 2016.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Marlborough College: About us - early history. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on March 25, 2016 ; accessed on March 17, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.