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Frances, Baroness Byron
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'''Frances, Baroness Byron''' (c.1702-1759), originally Frances Berkeley, was daughter of William, 4th Lord Berkeley (d.1740/1) and Frances Temple of Stratton (d.1707). Lady Byron "was one of the five daughters"<ref name=":0">Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (4 for 1)</ref> to the couple, yet her birth date is not known and thus attributed to [[1702]]. On 3 December [[1720]], Frances married [[William Byron, 4th Baron Byron|William, 4th Lord Byron]] (1669-1736) as his third wife and it was under this name Frances was a signatory to [[Thomas Coram]]'s petition of [[1729]], which led to the foundation of the [[Foundling Hospital]]. Her father, Lord Berkeley is known for writing on 1 November 1720: "I am going to dispose of one of my daughters to Lord Byron, a disproportionate match as to their ages, but marriages not offering every day, I would not miss this opportunity...though attended by never so many inconveniences".<ref name=":1">Quoted in Complete Peerage 1982, vol.I, part 2, p.456, and Coope & Smith 2014, p.61.</ref> Lady Byron is also known for sitting for the eighteenth century artist, [[William Hogarth]] (1697-1764), whose painting is now exhibited at the [[Foundling Museum]], near [[Brunswick Square]] in London, as part of their [https://ift.tt/2ORiiRo Ladies of Quality Exhibition]<ref>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)</ref>. Frances dies as Lady Hay in 1757.
== Marriages ==
Despite little being known about Frances Berkeley's early years as a child, Frances is identified in [[John Faber Jr.|John Faber]]'s graving of [[1736]]<ref>National Art Collections Fund Annual Review, 1993, pp.87-88.</ref>, before the death of her first husband, Lord Byron. historians' have suggested she married young due to her father's letter written on 1 November 1720. When Lord Berkeley wrote "a disproportionate match to their ages"<ref name=":1" />, it is inferred that Frances' new husband, 4th Lord Byron, was a much older man. During this marriage, Frances had six children, until Lord Byron's death on 8 August 1736. It was "through her second son John [that made Frances] the great-grandmother of [[Lord Byron]], the poet".<ref name=":0" /> Four years after her first husbands death, Frances remarries Sir Thomas Hay, Bt. (c.1698-1769), of Alderston, as his second wife, in 1740.
== Role in the Foundling hospital ==
[[File:The_Foundling_Hospital,_Holborn,_London;_the_main_buildings_Wellcome_V0013450.jpg|thumb|Frances, Baroness Byron, is one of the 22 women who sign the 1730 petition for the Foundling Hospital.]]
In 1735, Thomas Coram presented his first petition to King George II, that aimed to facilitate the building of a Foundling Hospital. Frances, among 21 other women of influence, signed this petition. Frances personally signed on 14 April 1730. The support of these women was one of innovative thought and vision, that not only triggered a catalyst for the further two petitions in 1737, that was ultimately successful. A Royal Charter was finally granted in 1739, calling upon 375 male signatories, yet excluding the ladies who were the facilitators of this success.
Frances' participation led to the involvement of her son, William, 5th Lord Byron (1722-1798), in the Foundling Hospital in October 1739, who is listed, alongside Hogarth, as a prominent governor. However it is considered that William's role of authority was unsympathetic to the cause, as he is notoriously represented as "the 'wicked Lord', [who] encumbered the estate, sold off much property and the family pictures in the 1770s".<ref name=":0" />
== Identity in Hogarth's painting[edit] ==
[[File:Frances_Lady_Byron.png|thumb|Frances, Lady Byron is identified as Hogarth's sitter in this portrait of 1736, six years after she has signed Coram's petition for the Foundling Museum.]]
Although details around the commission for William Hogarth's portrait of Lady Byron remain unclear, Lord Byron is thought to have subscribed to Hogarth's ''[[A Rake's Progress, 3: The Tavern Scene|Rake's Progress]]''. Historians' can also decipher that the portrait was produced six years after Frances signed Coram's petition for the Foundling Museum. Interestingly, at the same time Hogarth is painting Frances, two further petitions are being organised for presentation, which ultimately receives Royal Charter in 1739.
As noted in ''William Hogarth: A Complete Catalogue of Paintings,'' Frances is "shown walking in a park, looking at the viewer with pale grey-blue eyes, pulling on a glove with her left hand".<ref name=":0" /> Other motifs spotted in the portrait is the depiction of her "black and tan terrier"<ref name=":0" /> with an emphasised grey muzzle that is considered to allude to her elderly husband. It can be interpreted that due to marrying and bearing children at such a young age, Frances asserted her agency as an aristocratic female figure through her interest in the Foundling Hospital.
== References: ==
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November 18, 2018 at 01:11AM
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