Frances Talbot, Countess of Morley (married name Frances Parker; 1782–1857) was an English author and illustrator, best known as a correspondent of

Jane Austen Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...

. By her marriage to

John Parker, 1st Earl of Morley John Parker, 1st Earl of Morley Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (3 May 1772 – 14 March 1840), known as 2nd Baron Boringdon from 1788 to 1815, was a British peer and politician. Origins Morley was the only son of John Parker, 1st Baron Bo ...

, she became the Countess of Morley.

Family

Frances Talbot was the daughter of a surgeon, Thomas Talbot of

Wymondham Wymondham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the South Norfolk district of Norfolk, England. It lies on the River Tiffey, south-west of Norwich and just off the A11 road (England), A11 road to London. The pari ...

.Austen, Jane
"Jane Austen's Letters"
pg. 556 Her brother, Thomas Sugden Talbot, was a clergyman."The Gentleman's Magazine, Vol. 151"
pg. 570 This branch of the Talbot family was a junior branch of the Talbots of Salesbury and Bashall, and had acquired their estate of Gonville Hall during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Burke, John Bernard
"Encyclopaedia of Heraldry"
pg. 994

Marriage

Talbot married John Parker, then Baron Boringdon, in August 1809. It was his second marriage, the first one having ended in scandal. His first wife, a daughter of the

Earl of Westmorland Earl of Westmorland is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of England. The title was first created in 1397 for Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, Ralph Neville. It was forfeited in 1571 by Charles Neville, 6th Earl of Westmorl ...

, divorced him and married Arthur Paget as a result of her husband's many infidelities. Parker had actually attempted to start an affair with Talbot earlier, but she had refused. Talbot's marriage to Parker would prove more successful than his first one; they were married for thirty-one years. She was the mother of Parker's second legitimate son, Edmund Parker, 2nd Earl of Morley, who would later succeed to the earldom (as the elder son died young), as well as a daughter, Caroline, who died in 1818 at the age of four.Viveash, Chris
"Lady Morley and the Baron So Bold"
Journal of the Jane Austen Society of North America

Literary interests

Talbot was an early admirer of the work of Jane Austen, though it is not clear how they came to be acquainted; it is possible that they were introduced through Austen's brother,

Henry Thomas Austen Henry Thomas Austen (8 June 1771 – 12 March 1850) was a British militia officer, clergyman, banker and the brother of the novelist Jane Austen.Grey, David J. "Henry Austen: Jane Austen's "Perpetual Sunshine"." ''Persuasions Occasional Papers'', ...

. Talbot was the author of one of the five known surviving letters written to Jane Austen,"Textual Studies and the Enlarged Eighteenth Century: Precision as Profusion"
pg. 169 and she received a personal copy of '' Emma '' from Austen."Jane Austen's Fame and Fortune, Now and Then"
/ref> Talbot was mistakenly identified as a possible author of both ''

Pride and Prejudice ''Pride and Prejudice'' is the second published novel (but third to be written) by English author Jane Austen, written when she was age 20-21, and later published in 1813. A novel of manners, it follows the character development of Elizabe ...

'' and ''

Sense and Sensibility ''Sense and Sensibility'' ( working title; ''Elinor and Marianne'') is the first novel by the English author Jane Austen, published in 1811. It was published anonymously: ''By A Lady'' appears on the title page where the author's name might h ...

''; strangely enough, her husband's first wife was also sometimes put forth as a possible author of the latter novel. Talbot was herself an artist, illustrator, and novelist. She wrote several novels, including ''The Flying Burgomaster'' (1832), ''The Royal Intellectual Bazaar'' (1832), and ''The Man Without a Name'' (1852), and edited ''Dacre'' (1834)."Frances Parker, Countess of Morley"
at the Graphic Arts Collection, Special Collections, Firestone Library, Princeton University She lithographed the plates for ''Portraits of the Spruggins Family'', another work to which she was mistakenly attributed authorship.Yale Center for British Art
/ref>

Death

Talbot died at

Saltram Saltram House is a grade I listed George II era house in Plympton, Devon, England. It was deemed by the architectural critic Nikolaus Pevsner to be "the most impressive country house in Devon". The house was designed by the architect Ro ...

on 6 December 1857 and was buried in the family vault at

Plympton St Mary Plympton is a suburb of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England. It is in origin an ancient Stannary, stannary town. It was an important trading centre for locally mined tin, and a seaport before the River Plym silted up and trade moved down riv ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morley, Frances Talbot, Countess of 1782 births 1857 deaths English countesses English women novelists English illustrators English women illustrators 19th-century English novelists 19th-century English women writers 19th-century English artists 19th-century English women artists People from Wymondham Writers from Norfolk Artists from Norfolk