History - Family Portraits
Lady William Gordon (1761 - 1841) by Sir Thomas Lawrence PRA (1769 - 1830)
Lady William Gordon was born the Hon Frances Ingram, second daughter of Charles, ninth and last Viscount
Irwin of Temple Newsam and his wife, the heiress Frances nee Shepheard, She married Lord William Gordon,
son of the Duke of Gordon, in 1781. Although he was a notorious womaniser, Frances' forbearance ensured that
the marriage was a happy one, at least in its early years. Their only child, also called Frances, died
unmarried in 1831. In her later years Frances lived at Temple Newsam which she eventually inherited from
her sister Lady Hertford in 1834. She was remembered in the locality for her philanthropy and piety well
into the last years of the 19th century.
Lawrence's dramatic portrait of Frances was apparently begun in 1806 - when she was 45 years old - and
remained in the artist's studio until after his death when it was finally delivered to her. This painting
is probably a very good replica of the original, long since destroyed, and mainly in the hand of Lawrence but
with some studio assistance.
Temple Newsam 1996.0020
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