Frances Mackenzie, Dowager Countess of Seaforth (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Herbert; 165918 December 1732), was a Welsh-born

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

noblewoman and wife of Kenneth Mackenzie, 4th Earl of Seaforth.

Biography

Early life and family

The daughter of

William Herbert, 1st Marquess of Powis William Herbert, 1st Marquess of Powis, Knight of the Garter, KG, Privy Council of England, PC (16262 June 1696) was an English nobleman, best remembered for his suffering during the Popish Plot. He succeeded his father as 3rd Baron Powis in ...

, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Somerset, Frances was born into a

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

Jacobite family. She had one brother,

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

, and four sisters: Mary, Anne,

Lucy Lucy is an English language, English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings ar ...

and Winifred. Her family played an active part in the various

Jacobite risings Jacobitism was a political ideology advocating the restoration of the senior line of the House of Stuart to the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British throne. When James II of England chose exile after the November 1688 Glorious Revolution, ...

throughout the late 17th and early 18th centuries; her father personally helped

Mary of Modena Mary of Modena (; ) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England, List of Scottish royal consorts, Scotland and Ireland as the second wife of James VII and II. A devout Catholic, Roman Catholic, Mary married the widower James, who was t ...

and

James, Prince of Wales James Francis Edward Stuart (10 June 16881 January 1766), nicknamed the Old Pretender by Whigs or the King over the Water by Jacobites, was the House of Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland from 1701 until ...

escape after the

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1688, was the deposition of James II and VII, James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II, Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange ...

of 1688; and her sister Winifred's husband William Maxwell, 5th Earl of Nithsdale was captured at Preston together with other Jacobite leaders, found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. Winifred famously helped him escape from the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...

in 1715.

Marriage and children

Frances married a fellow Jacobite in 1680, the

Kenneth Mackenzie, 4th Earl of Seaforth. The Mackenzies had four children:G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume XI, page 618

, Mary, Alicia and Alexander. Ten years into their marriage, Kenneth was sent off to head a rising in Scotland. He was captured and imprisoned, however. He was released in 1697 and the family fled to Paris, where he died in January 1701.

Later years and death

After her husband's death, she remained in Paris, and died there on 18 December 1732, aged 73.

Children

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seaforth, Frances Mackenzie, Countess of 1659 births 1732 deaths 17th-century Scottish women 18th-century Scottish women

Frances Frances is an English given name or last name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'the French.' The male version of the name in English is Francis (given name), Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "F ...

Daughters of British marquesses Wives of knights English Jacobites

Scottish countesses