Frances Anne Vane, Marchioness of Londonderry (17 January 1800 – 20 January 1865) was a wealthy English heiress and noblewoman. She was the daughter of Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, 2nd Baronet. She married Charles William Stewart, 1st Baron Stewart. She became a marchioness in 1822 when Charles succeeded his half-brother as 3rd Marquess of Londonderry.
Life
Frances Anne was the only child of
Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, 2nd Baronet
Sir Henry Vane-Tempest, 2nd Baronet (25 January 1771 – 1 August 1813) was a British politician. In early life his name was Henry Vane. He changed his name to Vane-Tempest when he inherited from his uncle John Tempest, Jr. in 1793.
Life
He ...
, and his wife
Anne MacDonnell, 2nd
Countess of Antrim.
At her father's death in 1813, Frances Anne inherited extensive lands in northeast England as well as some property in County Antrim, Ireland. As much of her English land was in the
Durham Coalfield
The Durham Coalfield is a coalfield in north-east England. It is continuous with the Northumberland Coalfield to its north. It extends from Bishop Auckland in the south to the boundary with the county of Northumberland along the River Tyne in t ...
, she had income from coal mining. In his last will and testament, her father had stipulated that she must retain the surname Vane and that whoever married her would have to
adopt her surname in lieu of his own.
In 1819 she married and became the second wife of
Charles William Stewart
Charles William Vane, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, (born Charles William Stewart; 1778–1854), was an Anglo-Irish nobleman, a British soldier and a politician. He served in the French Revolutionary Wars, in the suppression of the Irish Rebell ...
, 1st Baron Stewart, who dutifully changed his name and became Charles William Vane. In 1822 she became a marchioness when her husband succeeded his half-brother
Lord Castlereagh
Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry, (18 June 1769 – 12 August 1822), usually known as Lord Castlereagh, derived from the courtesy title Viscount Castlereagh ( ) by which he was styled from 1796 to 1821, was an Anglo-Irish politician ...
to become the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry. With her husband, she developed an extensive coal mining operation that included coal mines, a railway, and docks at
Seaham
Seaham is a seaside town in County Durham, England. Located on the Durham Coast, Seaham is situated south of Sunderland and east of Durham. The town grew from the late 19th century onwards as a result of investments in its harbour and ...
.
She became an object of affection for
Tsar Alexander I
Alexander I (; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first King of Congress Poland from 1815, and the Grand Duke of Finland from 1809 to his death. He was the eldest son of Emperor Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg.
The son of Gra ...
after he happened to see her engagement portrait by
Sir Thomas Lawrence
Sir Thomas Lawrence (13 April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was an English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper at t ...
.
She sought to promote the political career of her eldest son,
George Vane-Tempest, and was a patron of
Benjamin Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation o ...
.
[''Letters from Benjamin Disraeli to Frances Anne, marchioness of Londonderry, 1837–1861'', edited by Edith, Marchioness of Londonderry (1938), p.268]
She built
Garron Tower north of
Carnlough
Carnlough ( ; ) is a village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is situated in Mid and East Antrim district, as well the historic barony of Glenarm Lower, and the civil parishes of Ardclinis and Tickmacrevan. It had a population of 1,512 ...
,
County Antrim
County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population of ...
, as a summer residence for herself.
When her husband died in 1854, she commissioned an equestrian statue showing him as a hussar,
[Equestrian statue, monument to the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry. ] which was unveiled in 1861 and still stands on the market place in Durham, England. The sculptor was
Raffaelle Monti
Raffaele Monti (often misspelled Rafaelle or Raffaelle; Milan 1818–1881) was an Italian sculptor, author and poet.
Born in Milan, he studied under his father, the noted sculptor Gaetano Matteo Monti, in the Imperial Academy. At the age of on ...
.
Through her daughter, Lady Frances Vane, wife of
John Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough, she is the great-grandmother of
Sir Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
.
Issue
*
George Henry Robert Charles William Vane-Tempest, 5th Marquess of Londonderry (1821–1884)
*
Lady Frances Anne Emily Vane (1822–1899); married
John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough
John Winston Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough (2 June 18224 July 1883), styled Earl of Sunderland from 1822 to 1840 and Marquess of Blandford from 1840 to 1857, was a British Conservative cabinet minister, politician, peer, and noblem ...
.
*Lady Alexandrina Octavia Maria Vane (1823–1874), godchild of Alexander I of Russia; married
Henry Dawson-Damer, 3rd Earl of Portarlington
Henry John Reuben Dawson-Damer, 3rd Earl of Portarlington (5 September 1822 – 1 March 1889) was an Irish peer.
On 17 November 1841, he was commissioned a cornet in the Dorsetshire Yeomanry. He became Earl of Portarlington in 1845 on the deat ...
.
*
Lord Adolphus Frederick Charles William Vane-Tempest (1825–1864), politician; became insane, and had to be medically restrained.
*Lady Adelaide Emelina Caroline Vane (c.1830–1882); disgraced the family by eloping with her brother's tutor, Rev. Frederick Henry Law.
*Lord Ernest McDonnell Vane-Tempest (1836–1885), fell in with a
press-gang
Impressment, colloquially "the press" or the "press gang", is the taking of men into a military or naval force by compulsion, with or without notice. European navies of several nations used forced recruitment by various means. The large size of ...
and had to be bought a commission in the army, from which he was subsequently
cashiered
Cashiering (or degradation ceremony), generally within military forces, is a ritual dismissal of an individual from some position of responsibility for a breach of discipline.
Etymology
From the Flemish (to dismiss from service; to discard ro ...
.
Frederick William Robert Stewart, 4th Marquess of Londonderry (1805–1872) was her stepson.
Ancestry
References
Bibliography
*Jeremiah William Summers
''The History and Antiquities of Sunderland''(J. Tate), 1858
*K. D. Reynolds
''Vane, Frances Anne, marchioness of Londonderry (1800–1865)'' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
,
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, September 2004; online edition, January 2008. Retrieved 29 August 2008
*Diane Urquhart
''The Ladies of Londonderry: Women and Political Patronage''(I. B. Tauris), 2007
Purchasing Power of British Pounds from 1264 to 2007 Retrieved 29 August 2008
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Londonderry, Frances Vane, Marchioness of
1800 births
1865 deaths
Irish marchionesses
Daughters of Irish earls
Daughters of baronets
Frances Anne
Frances Anne
Wives of knights